Abstract: Since, today in most countries around the world much
attention is paid to planning the smallest unit in the city i.e. the
residential neighborhoods to achieve sustainable urban development
goals, a variety of assessment tools have been developed to assess
and monitor the sustainability of new developments. One of the most
reliable and widely used assessment tools is LEED-ND rating system.
This paper whit the aim of assessing sustainability level of Roshdieh
neighborhood in Tabriz, has introduced this rating system and applied
it in the study area. The results indicate that Roshdieh has the
potential of achieving the standards of sustainable neighborhoods, but
the present situation is far from the ideal point.
Abstract: Since the emergence of e-Commerce, the world of
business has witnessed a radical shift in the way business activities
are conducted. However, the emergence of m-Commerce has further
pushed the boundaries of virtual commerce revolution. As a result,
there seems to be a growing blur in the distinction between e-
Commerce and m-Commerce. In addition, existing definitions for
both forms of commerce highlight characteristics (e.g. type of device
and activity conducted) that may be applicable to both concepts. The
aim of this paper is to identify the characteristics that help define and
delineate between e- and m- Commerce. The paper concludes that
characteristics of mobility, ubiquity and immediacy provide a clearer
and simpler template to distinguish between e-Commerce and m-
Commerce.
Abstract: Due to the advancement of Internet technology, online
learning is widely used in higher education institutions. Online
learning offers several means of communication, including online
forum. Through online forum, students and instructors are able to
discuss and share their knowledge and expertise without having a
need to attend the face-to-face, ordinary classroom session. The
purposes of this study are to analyze the students’ levels of
participation and critical thinking, types of action and factors
influencing their participation in online forum. A total of 41
postgraduate students undertaking a course in educational technology
from a public university in Malaysia were involved in this study. In
this course, the students participated in a weekly online forum as part
of the course requirement. Based on the log data file extracted from
the online forum, the students’ type of actions (view, add, update,
delete posts) and their levels of participation (passive, moderate or
active) were identified. In addition, the messages posted in the forum
were analyzed to gauge their level of critical thinking. Meanwhile,
the factors that might influence their online forum participation were
measured using a 24-items questionnaire. Based on the log data, a
total of 105 posts were sent by the participants. In addition, the
findings show that (i) majority of the students are moderate
participants, with an average of two to three posts per person, (ii)
viewing posts are the most frequent type of action (85.1%), and
followed by adding post (9.7%). Furthermore, based on the posts
they made, the most frequent type of critical thinking observed was
justification (50 input or 19.0%), followed by linking ideas and
interpretation (47 input or 18%), and novelty (38 input or 14.4%).
The findings indicate that online forum allows for social interaction
and can be used to measure the students’ critical thinking skills. In
order to achieve this, monitoring students’ activities in the online
forum is recommended.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate graduate
students’ visual attention and perceptions of a Prezi presentation. Ten
postgraduate master students were presented with a Prezi presentation
at the Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia, Universiti
Sains Malaysia (USM). The eye movement indicators such as dwell
time, average fixation on the areas of interests, heat maps and focus
maps were abstracted to indicate the students’ visual attention.
Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the students’
perception of the Prezi presentation in terms of text, slide design,
images, layout and overall presentation. The result revealed that the
students paid more attention to the text followed by the images and
sub heading presented through the Prezi presentation.
Abstract: The asynchronous discussion forum is one of the most
widely used activities in learning management system environment.
Online forum allows participants to interact, construct knowledge,
and can be used to complement face to face sessions in blended
learning courses. However, to what extent do the students perceive
the benefits or advantages of forum remain to be seen. Through
content and social network analyses, instructors will be able to gauge
the students’ engagement and knowledge construction level. Thus,
this study aims to analyze the students’ level of knowledge
construction and their participation level that occur through online
discussion. It also attempts to investigate the relationship between the
level of knowledge construction and their social interaction patterns.
The sample involves 23 students undertaking a master course in one
public university in Malaysia. The asynchronous discussion forum
was conducted for three weeks as part of the course requirement. The
finding indicates that the level of knowledge construction is quite
low. Also, the density value of 0.11 indicating the overall
communication among the participants in the forum is low. This
study reveals that strong and significant correlations between SNA
measures (in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality) and level of
knowledge construction. Thus, allocating these active students in
different group aids the interactive discussion takes place. Finally,
based upon the findings, some recommendations to increase students’
level of knowledge construction and also for further research are
proposed.
Abstract: Lately, asynchronous discussion forum is integrated in
higher educational institutions as it may increase learning process,
learners’ understanding, achievement and knowledge construction.
The asynchronous discussion forum is used to complement the
traditional, face-to-face learning session in hybrid learning courses.
However, studies have proven that students’ engagement in online
forums is still unconvincing. Thus, the aim of this study is to
investigate the motivating factors and obstacles that affect the
learners’ engagement in asynchronous discussion forum. This study
is carried out in one of the public higher educational institutions in
Malaysia with 18 postgraduate students as samples. The authors have
developed a 40-items questionnaire based on literature review. The
results indicate several factors that have encouraged or limited
students’ engagement in asynchronous discussion forum: (a) the
practices or behaviors of peers, or instructors, (b) the needs for the
discussions, (c) the learners’ personalities, (d) constraints in
continuing the discussion forum, (e) lack of ideas, (f) the level of
thoughts, (g) the level of knowledge construction, (h) technical
problems, (i) time constraints and (j) misunderstanding. This study
suggests some recommendations to increase the students’
engagement in online forums. Finally, based upon the findings, some
implications are proposed for further research.
Abstract: Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is one of the goals and key
pillars of the construction management science because it comprises
many of the functions and processes necessary, which assist
organisations and agencies to achieve their goals. It has therefore
become important to design and control assets during their whole life
cycle, from the design and planning phase through to disposal phase.
LCCA is aimed to improve the decision making system in the
ownership of assets by taking into account all the cost elements
including to the asset throughout its life.
Current application of LCC approach is impractical during
misunderstanding of the advantages of LCC. This main objective of
this research is to show a different relationship between capital cost
and long-term running costs. One hundred and thirty eight actual
building projects in United Kingdom (UK) were used in order to
achieve and measure the above-mentioned objective of the study. The
result shown that LCC is one of the most significant tools should be
considered on the decision making process.
Abstract: Cloud service brokering is a new service paradigm that
provides interoperability and portability of application across multiple
Cloud providers. In this paper, we designed Cloud service brokerage
system, anyBroker, supporting integrated service provisioning and
SLA based service lifecycle management. For the system design, we
introduce the system concept and whole architecture, details of main
components and use cases of primary operations in the system. These
features ease the Cloud service provider and customer’s concern and
support new Cloud service open market to increase Cloud service
profit and prompt Cloud service echo system in Cloud computing
related area.
Abstract: The cooling channels of injection mould play a crucial
role in determining the productivity of moulding process and the
product quality. It’s not a simple task to design high quality cooling
channels. In this paper, an intelligent cooling channels design system
including automatic layout of cooling channels, interference checking
and assembly of accessories is studied. Automatic layout of cooling
channels using genetic algorithm is analyzed. Through integrating
experience criteria of designing cooling channels, considering the
factors such as the mould temperature and interference checking, the
automatic layout of cooling channels is implemented. The method of
checking interference based on distance constraint algorithm and the
function of automatic and continuous assembly of accessories are
developed and integrated into the system. Case studies demonstrate the
feasibility and practicality of the intelligent design system.
Abstract: The paper deals with communication standards for
control and production system. The authors formulate the
requirements for communication security protection. The paper is
focused on application protocols of the industrial networks and their
basic classification. The typical attacks are analysed and the safety
protection, based on requirements for specific industrial network is
suggested and defined in this paper.
Abstract: This article describes the information system for
measuring and evaluating the dose rate in the environment of nuclear
power plants Mochovce and Bohunice in Slovakia.
The article presents the results achieved in the implementation of
the EU project – Research of monitoring and evaluation of nonstandard
conditions in the area of nuclear power plants. The
objectives included improving the system of acquisition, measuring
and evaluating data with mobile and autonomous units applying new
knowledge from research.
The article provides basic and specific features of the system and
compared to the previous version of the system, also new functions.
Abstract: Multiwall carbon nanotubes, prepared by chemical
vapor deposition, have an average diameter of 60-100 nm as shown
by High Resolution Transmittance Electron Microscope, HR-TEM.
The Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were further
characterized using X-ray Diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy.
Mercury uptake capacity of MWCNTs was studied using batch
adsorption method at different concentration ranges up to 150 ppm.
Mercury concentration (before and after the treatment) was measured
using cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy. The effect of time,
concentration, pH and adsorbent dose were studied. MWCNT were
found to perform complete absorption in the sub-ppm concentrations
(parts per billion levels) while for high concentrations, the adsorption
efficiency was 92% at the optimum conditions; 0.1 g of the adsorbent
at 150 ppm mercury (II) solution. The adsorption of mercury on
MWCNTs was found to follow the Freundlich adsorption isotherm
and the pseudo-second order kinetic model.
Abstract: Fuzzy systems have been successfully used for
exchange rate forecasting. However, fuzzy system is very confusing
and complex to be designed by an expert, as there is a large set of
parameters (fuzzy knowledge base) that must be selected, it is not a
simple task to select the appropriate fuzzy knowledge base for an
exchange rate forecasting. The researchers often look the effect of
fuzzy knowledge base on the performances of fuzzy system
forecasting. This paper proposes a genetic fuzzy predictor to forecast
the future value of daily US Dollar/Euro exchange rate time’s series.
A range of methodologies based on a set of fuzzy predictor’s which
allow the forecasting of the same time series, but with a different
fuzzy partition. Each fuzzy predictor is built from two stages, where
each stage is performed by a real genetic algorithm.
Abstract: Fritillaria oranensis (Liliaceae) was described in 1874
by pomel from Algeria. Plant samples have been collected from the
mount of Tessala (Sidi-Bel-Abbes). The morphological features of
various organs of the plant are described in detail. In the
morphological part of the study, features of various organs of the
plants such as stem and leaf were determined and illustrated.
Ecological studies provide information about the physical and
chemical structure of soil types in Tessala Mountain. The aim of this
original investigation is to put forth ecological and anatomical
features of these species for the first time, but at the same time given
detailed account of the morphological characteristics of the stem and
leaf of Fritillaria oranensis.
Abstract: The purpose of this project is to carry out an analysis
and determine the profile of actual lean manufacturing processes in
the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga. Through the analysis of
qualitative and quantitative variables it was possible to establish how
these manufacturers develop production practices that ensure their
competitiveness and productivity in the market.
In this study, a random sample of metallurgic and wrought iron
companies was applied, following which a quantitative focus and
analysis was used to formulate a qualitative methodology for
measuring the level of lean manufacturing procedures in the industry.
A qualitative evaluation was also carried out through a multivariate
analysis using the Numerical Taxonomy System (NTSYS) program
which should allow for the determination of Lean Manufacturing
profiles.
Through the results it was possible to observe how the companies
in the sector are doing with respect to Lean Manufacturing Practices,
as well as identify the level of management that these companies
practice with respect to this topic. In addition, it was possible to
ascertain that there is no one dominant profile in the sector when it
comes to Lean Manufacturing.
It was established that the companies in the metallurgic and
wrought iron industry show low levels of Lean Manufacturing
implementation. Each one carries out diverse actions that are
insufficient to consolidate a sectoral strategy for developing a
competitive advantage which enables them to tie together a
production strategy.
Abstract: FengShui, an old Chinese discipline, dates back to
more than 5000 years, is one of the design principles that aim at
creating habitable and sustainable spaces in harmony with nature by
systematizing data within its own structure. Having emerged from
Chinese mysticism and embodying elements of faith in its principles,
FengShui argues that the positive energy in the environment channels
human behavior and psychology. This argument is supported with the
thesis of quantum physics that ‘everything is made up of energy’ and
gains an important place.
In spaces where living and working take place with several
principles and systematized rules, FengShui promises a happier, more
peaceful and comfortable life by influencing human psychology, acts,
and soul as well as the professional and social life of the individual.
Observing these design properties in houses, workplaces, offices, the
environment, and daily life as a design paradigm is significant. In this
study, how FengShui, a Central Asian culture emanated from Chinese
mysticism, shapes design and how it is used as an element of
sustainable design will be explained.
Abstract: Multispectral screening systems are becoming more
popular because of their very interesting properties and applications.
One of the most significant applications of multispectral screening
systems is prevention of terrorist attacks. There are many kinds of
threats and many methods of detection. Visual detection of objects
hidden under clothing of a person is one of the most challenging
problems of threats detection. There are various solutions of the
problem; however, the most effective utilize multispectral
surveillance imagers. The development of imaging devices and
exploration of new spectral bands is a chance to introduce new
equipment for assuring public safety. We investigate the possibility
of long lasting detection of potentially dangerous objects covered
with various types of clothing. In the article we present the results of
comparative studies of passive imaging in three spectrums – visible,
infrared and terahertz.
Abstract: Stress Corrosion Crack (SCC) in pipeline is a type of
environmentally assisted cracking (EAC), since its discovery in 1965
as a possible cause of failure in pipeline, SCC has caused, on
average, one of two failures per year in the U.S, According to the
NACE SCC DA a pipe line segment is considered susceptible to SCC
if all of the following factors are met: The operating stress exceeds
60% of specified minimum yield strength (SMYS), the operating
temperature exceeds 38°C, the segment is less than 32 km
downstream from a compressor station, the age of the pipeline is
greater than 10 years and the coating type is other than Fusion
Bonded Epoxy(FBE). In this paper as a practical experience in
NISOC, Direct Assessment (DA) Method is used for identification
SCC defect in unpiggable pipeline located downstream of
compressor station.
Abstract: Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP) is a BWR/6 type
NPP and located on the northern coast of Taiwan. First, Kuosheng
NPP TRACE model were developed in this research. In order to assess
the system response of Kuosheng NPP TRACE model, startup tests
data were used to evaluate Kuosheng NPP TRACE model. Second, the
overpressurization transient analysis of Kuosheng NPP TRACE model
was performed. Besides, in order to confirm the mechanical property
and integrity of fuel rods, FRAPTRAN analysis was also performed in
this study.
Abstract: Recently, an increasing number of researchers have
been focusing on working out realistic solutions to sustainability
problems. As sustainability issues gain higher importance for
organisations, the management of such decisions becomes critical.
Knowledge representation is a fundamental issue of complex
knowledge based systems. Many types of sustainability problems
would benefit from models based on experts’ knowledge. Cognitive
maps have been used for analyzing and aiding decision making. A
cognitive map can be made of almost any system or problem. A
fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) can successfully represent knowledge
and human experience, introducing concepts to represent the essential
elements and the cause and effect relationships among the concepts to
model the behaviour of any system. Integrated waste management
systems (IWMS) are complex systems that can be decomposed to
non-related and related subsystems and elements, where many factors
have to be taken into consideration that may be complementary,
contradictory, and competitive; these factors influence each other and
determine the overall decision process of the system. The goal of the
present paper is to construct an efficient IWMS which considers
various factors. The authors’ intention is to propose an expert based
system design approach for implementing expert decision support in
the area of IWMSs and introduces an appropriate methodology for
the development and analysis of group FCM. A framework for such a
methodology consisting of the development and application phases is
presented.