Abstract: There are real needs to integrate types of Open
Educational Resources (OER) with an intelligent system to extract
information and knowledge in the semantic searching level. The
needs came because most of current learning standard adopted web
based learning and the e-learning systems do not always serve all
educational goals. Semantic Web systems provide educators,
students, and researchers with intelligent queries based on a semantic
knowledge management learning system. An ontology-based learning
system is an advanced system, where ontology plays the core of the
semantic web in a smart learning environment. The objective of this
paper is to discuss the potentials of ontologies and mapping different
kinds of ontologies; heterogeneous or homogenous to manage and
control different types of Open Educational Resources. The important
contribution of this research is that it uses logical rules and
conceptual relations to map between ontologies of different
educational resources. We expect from this methodology to establish
an intelligent educational system supporting student tutoring, self and
lifelong learning system.
Abstract: Urban areas, as they have been developed and operate
today, are areas of accumulation of a significant amount of people
and a large number of activities that generate desires and reasons for
traveling. The territorial expansion of the cities as well as the need to
preserve the importance of the central city areas lead to the
continuous increase of transportation needs which in the limited
urban space results in creating serious traffic and operational
problems. The modern perception of urban planning is directed towards more
holistic approaches and integrated policies that make it economically
competitive, socially just and more environmentally friendly. Over
the last 25 years, the goal of sustainable transport development has
been central to the agenda of any plan or policy for the city. The
modern planning of urban space takes into account the economic and
social aspects of the city and the importance of the environment to
sustainable urban development. In this context, the European Union
promotes direct or indirect related interventions according to the
cohesion and environmental policies; many countries even had the
chance to actually test them. This paper explores the methods and processes that have been
developed towards this direction and presents a review and
systematic presentation of this work. The ultimate purpose of this
research is to effectively use this review to create a decision making
methodological framework which can be the basis of a useful
operational tool for sustainable urban planning.
Abstract: The importance of this study is to understand how Indonesian military court asserts its jurisdiction over military members who commit general crimes within the Indonesian military judiciary system in comparison to other countries. This research employs a normative-juridical approach in combination with historical and comparative-juridical approaches. The research specification is analytical-descriptive in nature, i.e. describing or outlining the principles, basic concepts, and norms related to military judiciary system, which are further analyzed within the context of implementation and as the inputs for military justice regulation under the Indonesian legal system. Main data used in this research are secondary data, including primary, secondary and tertiary legal sources. The research focuses on secondary data, while primary data are supplementary in nature. The validity of data is checked using multi-methods commonly known as triangulation, i.e. to reflect the efforts to gain an in-depth understanding of phenomena being studied. Here, the military element is kept intact in the judiciary process with due observance of the Military Criminal Justice System and the Military Command Development Principle. The Indonesian military judiciary jurisdiction over military members committing general crimes is based on national legal system and global development while taking into account the structure, composition and position of military forces within the state structure. Jurisdiction is formulated by setting forth the substantive norm of crimes that are military in nature. At the level of adjudication jurisdiction, the military court has a jurisdiction to adjudicate military personnel who commit general offences. At the level of execution jurisdiction, the military court has a jurisdiction to execute the sentence against military members who have been convicted with a final and binding judgement. Military court's jurisdiction needs to be expanded when the country is in the state of war.
Abstract: A repairable mechanical system (as agricultural
tractor) is subject to deterioration or repeated failure and needs a
repair shops and also operator’s capability for the repair and
maintenance operations. Data are based on field visits and interviews
with 48MF 285 tractor operators from 14 villages collected in north
of Khouzestan province. The results showed that most operators were
lack the technical skill to service and repair tractors due to
insufficient training, specific education and work experience.
Inadequate repair and maintenance facilities, such as workshops,
mechanics and spare parts depots cause delays in repair work in the
survey areas. Farmers do not keep accurate service records and most
of them disregard proper maintenance and service of their tractors,
such as changing engine oil without following the manufacturer’s
recommendations. Since, Repair and maintenance facilities should be
established in village areas to guarantee timely repair in case of
breakdowns and to make spare parts available at low price. The
operators should keep service records accurately and adhere to
maintenance and service schedules according to the manufacturer’s
instructions. They should also be encouraged to do the service and
maintain their tractors properly.
Abstract: This paper seeks to assess the implications of bank
consolidation on lending, which largely determine the survival and
performance of small and medium scale enterprises and in turn the
development of the Nigerian economy. Ordinary least square
technique, correlation matrix test and Granger –causality test were
employed to measure the extent to which lending to small and
medium scale enterprises were influenced. The result showed that
bank deposit (BD) impacted on lending to small and medium scale
enterprises. Commercial and merchant bank lending rate had
statistically insignificant effect on the dependent variable. There is a
shift of focus by commercial banks from small and medium scale
enterprises (small customers) to major investors (big customers).
While micro finance banks work hard at providing funds to small and
medium scale entrepreneurs, their capacity to meet the needs of these
entrepreneurs is constrained. The capital and deposits of micro
finance bank should be boosted in order to effectively support small
and medium scale enterprises through loans.
Abstract: This research will give the introductory ideas for
cultural adaption of B2C E-Service design in Germany. By the
intense competition of E-Service development, many companies have
realized the importance of understanding the emotional and cultural
characteristics of their customers. Ignoring customers’ needs and
requirements throughout the E-Service design can lead to faults,
mistakes, and gaps. The term of E-Service usability now is changed
not only to develop high quality E-Services, but also to be extended
to include customer satisfaction and provide for them to feel local.
Abstract: There are a number of Distributed Generations (DGs)
installed in microgrid, which may have diverse path and direction of
power flow or fault current. The overcurrent protection scheme for the
traditional radial type distribution system will no longer meet the
needs of microgrid protection. Integrating the Intelligent Electronic
Device (IED) and a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) with IEC 61850 communication protocol, the paper
proposes a Microgrid Protection Management System (MPMS) to
protect power system from the fault. In the proposed method, the
MPMS performs logic programming of each IED to coordinate their
tripping sequence. The GOOSE message defined in IEC 61850 is used
as the transmission information medium among IEDs. Moreover, to
cope with the difference in fault current of microgrid between
grid-connected mode and islanded mode, the proposed MPMS applies
the group setting feature of IED to protect system and robust
adaptability. Once the microgrid topology varies, the MPMS will
recalculate the fault current and update the group setting of IED.
Provided there is a fault, IEDs will isolate the fault at once. Finally, the
Matlab/Simulink and Elipse Power Studio software are used to
simulate and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.
Abstract: This study aims to increase understanding of the
transition of business models in servitization. The significance of
service in all business has increased dramatically during the past
decades. Service-dominant logic (SDL) describes this change in the
economy and questions the goods-dominant logic on which business
has primarily been based in the past. A business model canvas is one
of the most cited and used tools in defining end developing business
models. The starting point of this paper lies in the notion that the
traditional business model canvas is inherently goods-oriented and
best suits for product-based business. However, the basic differences
between goods and services necessitate changes in business model
representations when proceeding in servitization. Therefore, new
knowledge is needed on how the conception of business model and
the business model canvas as its representation should be altered in
servitized firms in order to better serve business developers and interfirm
co-creation. That is to say, compared to products, services are
intangible and they are co-produced between the supplier and the
customer. Value is always co-created in interaction between a
supplier and a customer, and customer experience primarily depends
on how well the interaction succeeds between the actors. The role of
service experience is even stronger in service business compared to
product business, as services are co-produced with the customer. This paper provides business model developers with a service
business model canvas, which takes into account the intangible,
interactive, and relational nature of service. The study employs a
design science approach that contributes to theory development via
design artifacts. This study utilizes qualitative data gathered in
workshops with ten companies from various industries. In particular,
key differences between Goods-dominant logic (GDL) and SDLbased
business models are identified when an industrial firm
proceeds in servitization. As the result of the study, an updated version of the business
model canvas is provided based on service-dominant logic. The
service business model canvas ensures a stronger customer focus and
includes aspects salient for services, such as interaction between
companies, service co-production, and customer experience. It can be
used for the analysis and development of a current service business
model of a company or for designing a new business model. It
facilitates customer-focused new service design and service
development. It aids in the identification of development needs, and
facilitates the creation of a common view of the business model.
Therefore, the service business model canvas can be regarded as a
boundary object, which facilitates the creation of a common
understanding of the business model between several actors involved.
The study contributes to the business model and service business
development disciplines by providing a managerial tool for
practitioners in service development. It also provides research insight
into how servitization challenges companies’ business models.
Abstract: Main purpose of this study is to identify the impact of
government expenditure on economic growth in Asian Countries.
Consequently, main objective is to analyze whether government
expenditure causes economic growth in Asian countries vice versa
and then scrutinizing long-run equilibrium relationship exists
between them. The study completely based on secondary data. The
methodology being quantitative that includes econometrical
techniques of cointegration, panel fixed effects model and granger
causality in the context of panel data of Asian countries; Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, China, Sri Lanka, India and
Bhutan with 44 observations in each country, totaling to 396
observations from 1970 to 2013. The model used is the random
effects panel OLS model. As with the above methodology, the study
found the fascinating outcome. At first, empirical findings exhibit a
momentous positive impact of government expenditure on Gross
Domestic Production in Asian region. Secondly, government
expenditure and economic growth indicate a long-run relationship in
Asian countries. In conclusion, there is a unidirectional causality
from economic growth to government expenditure and government
expenditure to economic growth in Asian countries. Hence the study
is validated that it is in line with the Keynesian theory and Wagner’s
law as well. Consequently, it can be concluded that role of
government would play a vital role in economic growth of Asian
Countries. However; if government expenditure did not figure out
with the economy’s needs it might be considerably inspiration the
economy in a negative way so that society bears the costs.
Abstract: This paper seeks to assess the implications of bank
consolidation on the performance of small and medium scale
enterprises in the Nigerian economy. Multiple linear regression
technique and correlation matrix test were employed to measure the
extent to which small and medium scale enterprises asset size,
survival and access to credit were influenced. The result showed that
bank deposit (BD) and bank credit (L or BC) impacted on asset size
and survival of small and medium scale enterprises. None of the
variables had significant impact on SMEs access to credit. There is a
shift of focus by commercial banks away from small and medium
scale enterprises (small customers), which is evidenced by the
significant negative influence of bank credit to both the survival and
asset size of small and medium enterprises. While micro finance
banks work hard at providing funds to small and medium scale
entrepreneurs, their capacity to meet the needs of these entrepreneurs
is constrained. CBN should make policies that will boost micro
finance bank’s capital and also monitor closely the management of
the banks to ensure prudent financing of small and medium scale
investments.
Abstract: The web services applications for digital reference
service (WSDRS) of LIS model is an informal model that claims to
reduce the problems of digital reference services in libraries. It uses
web services technology to provide efficient way of satisfying users’
needs in the reference section of libraries. The formal WSDRS model
consists of the Z specifications of all the informal specifications of
the model. This paper discusses the formal validation of the Z
specifications of WSDRS model. The authors formally verify and
thus validate the properties of the model using Z/EVES theorem
prover.
Abstract: Leishmaniasis is the collective name for a number of
diseases caused by protozoan flagellates of the genus Leishmania,
which is transmitted by Phlebotomine sandfly, the disease has diverse
clinical manifestations and found in many areas of the world,
particularly in Africa, Latin America, South and Central Asia, the
Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. This study was done to
assess primary health care physicians’ knowledge (PHP) and attitude
about leishmaniasis and to assess awareness of local inhabitants
about the disease and its vector in four areas in west Alexandria,
Egypt. It is a cross sectional survey that was conducted in four PHC
units in west Alexandria. All physicians currently working in these
units during the study period were invited to participate in the study;
only 20 PHP completed the questionnaire. 60 local inhabitants were
selected randomly from the four areas of the study, 15 from each
area; Data was collected through two different specially designed
questionnaires. Results showed that 11 (55%) percent of the
physicians had satisfactory knowledge; they answered more than 9
(60%) questions out of a total 14 questions about leishmaniasis and
sandfly. On the other hand when attitude of the primary health care
physicians about leishmaniasis was measured, results showed that 17
(85%) had good attitude and 3 (15%) had poor attitude. The second
questionnaire showed that the awareness of local inhabitants about
leishmaniasis and sandfly as a vector of the disease is poor and needs
to be corrected. (90%) of the interviewed inhabitants had not heard
about leishmaniasis, Only 3 (5%) of them said they know sandfly and
its role in transmission of leishmaniasis. Thus we conclude that
knowledge and attitudes of physicians are acceptable. However, there
is, room for improvement and could be done through formal training
courses and distribution of guidelines. In addition to raising the
awareness of primary health care physicians about the importance of
early detection and notification of cases of leishmaniasis, health
education for raising awareness of the public regarding the vector and
the disease is necessary because related studies have demonstrated
that for inhabitants to take enough protective measures against the
vector, they should perceive that it is responsible for causing a
disease.
Abstract: Communicating users' needs, goals and problems help
designers and developers overcome challenges faced by end users.
Personas are used to represent end users’ needs. In our research,
creating personas allowed the following questions to be answered:
Who are the potential user groups? What do they want to achieve by
using the service? What are the problems that users face? What
should the service provide to them? To develop realistic personas, we
conducted a focus group discussion with undergraduate and graduate
students and also interviewed a university librarian. The personas
were created to help evaluating the Institutional Repository that is
based on the DSpace system. The profiles helped to communicate
users' needs, abilities, tasks, and problems, and the task scenarios
used in the heuristic evaluation were based on these personas. Four
personas resulted of a focus group discussion with undergraduate and
graduate students and from interviewing a university librarian. We
then used these personas to create focused task-scenarios for a
heuristic evaluation on the system interface to ensure that it met
users' needs, goals, problems and desires. In this paper, we present
the process that we used to create the personas that led to devise the
task scenarios used in the heuristic evaluation as a follow up study of
the DSpace university repository.
Abstract: The fuel potential of six tropical hardwood species
namely: Triplochiton scleroxylon, Ceiba pentandra, Aningeria
robusta, Terminalia superba, Celtis mildbreadii and Piptadenia
africana were studied. Properties studied included species density,
gross calorific value, volatile matter, ash content, organic carbon and
elemental composition. Fuel properties were determined using
standard laboratory methods. The result indicates that the gross
calorific value (GCV) of the species ranged from 20.16 to 22.22
MJ/kg and they slightly varied from each other. Additionally, the
GCV of the biomass materials were higher than that of other biomass
materials like; wheat straw, rice straw, maize straw and sugar cane.
The ash and volatile matter content varied from 0.6075 to 5.0407%,
and 75.23% to 83.70% respectively. The overall rating of the
properties of the six biomass materials suggested that Piptadenia
africana has the best fuel property to be used as briquettes and
Aningeria robusta the worse. This study therefore suggests that a
holistic assessment of a biomass material needs to be done before
selecting it for fuel purpose.
Abstract: This study aimed to explore the practical experience
of child welfare caseworkers and professionalism in child case
management in Malaysia. This paper discussed the specific social
work practice competency and the challenges faced by child
caseworkers in the fieldwork. This research was qualitative with
grounded theory approach. Four sessions of focused group discussion
(FGD) were conducted involving a total of 27 caseworkers (child
protector and probation officers) in the Klang Valley. The study
found that the four basic principles of knowledge in child case
management namely: 1. knowledge in child case management; 2.
professional values of caseworkers towards children; 3. skills in
managing cases; and 4. culturally competent practice in child case
management. In addition, major challenges faced by the child case
manager are the capacity and commitment of the family in children’s
rehabilitation program, the credibility of caseworkers are being
challenged, and the challenges of support system from intra and interagency.
This study is important for policy makers to take into account
the capacity and the needs of the child’s caseworker in accordance
with the national social work competency framework. It is expected
that case management services for children will improve
systematically in line with national standards.
Abstract: The access to relevant information that is adapted to
user’s needs, preferences and environment is a challenge in many
applications running. That causes an appearance of context-aware
systems. To facilitate the development of this class of applications, it
is necessary that these applications share a common context
metamodel. In this article, we will present our context metamodel
that is defined using the OMG Meta Object facility (MOF).This
metamodel is based on the analysis and synthesis of context concepts
proposed in literature.
Abstract: Financial innovations can be regarded as the cause
and the effect of the evolution of the financial system. Most of
financial innovations are created by various financial institutions for
their own purposes and needs. However, due to their diversity,
financial innovations can be also applied by various business entities
(other than financial institutions).
This paper focuses on the potential application of financial
innovations by non-financial companies. It is assumed that financial
innovations may be effectively applied in all fields of corporate
financial decisions integrating financial management with the risk
management process. Appropriate application of financial
innovations may enhance the development of the company and
increase its value by improving its financial situation and reducing
the level of risk. On the other hand, misused financial innovations
may become the source of extra risk for the company threatening its
further operation.
The main objective of the paper is to identify the major types of
financial innovations offered to non-financial companies by the
banking system in Poland. It also aims at identifying the main factors
determining the creation of financial innovations in the banking
system in Poland and indicating future directions of their
development.
This paper consists of conceptual and empirical part. Conceptual
part based on theoretical study is focused on the determinants of the
process of financial innovations and their application by the nonfinancial
companies. Theoretical study is followed by the empirical
research based on the analysis of the actual offer of the 20 biggest
banks operating in Poland with regard to financial innovations
offered to SMEs and large corporations. These innovations are
classified according to the main functions of the integrated financial
management, such as financing, investment, working capital
management and risk management.
Empirical study has proved that the biggest banks operating in the
Polish market offer to their business customers many types and
classes of financial innovations. This offer appears vast and adequate
to the needs and purposes of the Polish non-financial companies. It
was observed that financial innovations pertained to financing
decisions dominate in the banks’ offer. However, due to high
diversification of the offered financial innovations, business
customers may effectively apply them in all fields and areas of
integrated financial management. It should be underlined, that the
banks’ offer is highly dispersed, which may limit the implementation
of financial innovations in the corporate finance. It would be also
recommended for the banks operating in the Polish market to
intensify the education campaign aiming at increasing knowledge
about financial innovations among business customers.
Abstract: Facility location is a complex real-world problem
which needs a strategic management decision. This paper provides a
general review on studies, efforts and developments in Facility
Location Problems which are classical optimization problems having
a wide-spread applications in various areas such as transportation,
distribution, production, supply chain decisions and
telecommunication. Our goal is not to review all variants of different
studies in FLPs or to describe very detailed computational techniques
and solution approaches, but rather to provide a broad overview of
major location problems that have been studied, indicating how they
are formulated and what are proposed by researchers to tackle the
problem. A brief, elucidative table based on a grouping according to
“General Problem Type” and “Methods Proposed” used in the studies
is also presented at the end of the work.
Abstract: The aim of this work was to characterize a potential
target group of people interested in participating into a training
program in organic farming in the context of mobile-learning. The
information sought addressed in particular, but not exclusively,
possible contents, formats and forms of evaluation that will
contribute to define the course objectives and curriculum, as well as
to ensure that the course meets the needs of the learners and their
preferences. The sample was selected among different European
countries. The questionnaires were delivered electronically for
answering on-line and in the end 135 consented valid questionnaires
were obtained. The results allowed characterizing the target group
and identifying their training needs and preferences towards m-learning
formats, giving valuable tools to design the training offer.
Abstract: This paper presents results of the survey regarding the
awareness about HIV/AIDS among HIV-infected individuals. A
questionnaire covering various aspects of HIV-infection was
conducted among 110 HIV-infected individuals who attended the
G.A. Zaharyan Moscow Tuberculosis Clinic, Department for
treatment of TB patients with HIV. The questionnaire included
questions about modes of HIV transmission and preventive measures
against HIV/AIDS, as well as questions about age, gender, education
and employment status. The survey revealed that the respondents in
the whole had a good knowledge regarding modes of HIV
transmission and preventive measures against HIV/AIDS: about
83,6% male respondents and 85,7% female respondents gave an
accurate answers regarding the HIV-infection. However, the
overwhelming majority of the study participants, that is, 88,5% men
and 98% women, was quite ignorant about the risk of acquiring HIV
through saliva and toothbrush of HIV-infected individual. Though
that risk is rather insignificant, it is still biologically possible. And
this gap in knowledge needs to be filled. As the study showed another
point of concern was the fact, that despite the knowledge of HIV
transmission risk through unprotected sex about 40% percent of HIVpositive
men and 25% of HIV-positive women did not insist on using
condoms with their sexual partners. These findings indicate that there
are still some aspects about HIV-infection which needed to be
clarified and explained through more detailed and specific
educational programs.