Abstract: The evaluation of conversational agents or chatterbots question answering systems is a major research area that needs much attention. Before the rise of domain-oriented conversational agents based on natural language understanding and reasoning, evaluation is never a problem as information retrieval-based metrics are readily available for use. However, when chatterbots began to become more domain specific, evaluation becomes a real issue. This is especially true when understanding and reasoning is required to cater for a wider variety of questions and at the same time to achieve high quality responses. This paper discusses the inappropriateness of the existing measures for response quality evaluation and the call for new standard measures and related considerations are brought forward. As a short-term solution for evaluating response quality of conversational agents, and to demonstrate the challenges in evaluating systems of different nature, this research proposes a blackbox approach using observation, classification scheme and a scoring mechanism to assess and rank three example systems, AnswerBus, START and AINI.
Abstract: State tax revenues in most countries started to decrease during the recession. Government of Latvia decided to compensate the decline by increasing rates of several taxes including excise tax on strong alcohol. The total increase in 2009 constituted 42% and the rate increased from 896€ to 1 266€ for 100l of absolute alcohol. Since then this has had a negative impact on consumption volumes and the split between legal and illegal market. The legal alcohol sales decreased by almost 50% (by volume), consequentially having negative effect on the State revenues from VAT and excise tax. Estimated results for 2010 are indicating 54 million € decrease in VAT, excise tax and other taxes versus 2008 (excise tax -19 million €, VAT -30 million €, other taxes -5 million €). The paper aims to analyze impact of the increase in excise tax on consumption patterns, State revenues and competitiveness of the local companies to draw up proposals for the state authorities regarding more effective tax policies. The analysis reveals a relationship between excise tax rate, illegal alcohol market and State revenues. The results can be used to improve excise tax system and effectiveness in Latvia.
Abstract: In many countries, digital city or ubiquitous city
(u-City) projects have been initiated to provide digitalized economic
environments to cities. Recently in Korea, Kangwon Province has
started the u-Kangwon project to boost local economy with digitalized
tourism services. We analyze the limitations of the ubiquitous IT
approach through the u-Kangwon case. We have found that travelers
are more interested in quality over speed in access of information. For
improved service quality, we are looking to develop an
IT-convergence service design framework (ISDF). The ISDF is based
on the service engineering technique and composed of three parts:
Service Design, Service Simulation, and the Service Platform.
Abstract: Anodizing is an electrochemical process that converts the metal surface into a decorative, durable, corrosion-resistant, anodic oxide finish. Aluminum is ideally suited to anodizing, although other nonferrous metals, such as magnesium and titanium, also can be anodized. The anodic oxide structure originates from the aluminum substrate and is composed entirely of aluminum oxide. This aluminum oxide is not applied to the surface like paint or plating, but is fully integrated with the underlying aluminum substrate, so cannot chip or peel. It has a highly ordered, porous structure that allows for secondary processes such as coloring and sealing. In this experimental paper, we focus on a reliable method for fabricating nanoporous alumina with high regularity. Starting from study of nanostructure materials synthesize methods. After that, porous alumina fabricate in the laboratory by anodization of aluminum oxide. Hard anodization processes are employed to fabricate the nanoporous alumina using 0.3M oxalic acid and 90, 120 and 140 anodized voltages. The nanoporous templates were characterized by SEM and FFT. The nanoporous templates using 140 voltages have high ordered. The pore formation, influence of the experimental conditions on the pore formation, the structural characteristics of the pore and the oxide chemical reactions involved in the pore growth are discuss.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore how the emotions at the moment of conflict escalation are expressed nonverbally and how it can be detected by the parties involved in the conflicting situation. The study consists of two parts, in the first part it starts with the definition of "conflict" and "nonverbal communication". Further it includes the analysis of emotions and types of emotions, which may bring to the conflict escalation. Four types of emotions and emotion constructs are analyzed, particularly fear, anger, guilt and frustration. The second part of the study analyses the general role of nonverbal behavior in interaction and communication, which information it may give during communication to the person, who sends or receives those signals. The study finishes with the analysis of the nonverbal expression of analyzed emotions and on how it can be used during interaction.
Abstract: The toxicity of aqueous extracts of two plants,
Nicotiana tobacum and Eucalyptus globulus were investigated against second instar larvae of Lycoriella auripila, one of the most
important pests of button mushroom, using agar dilution technique.
Seven concentrations of aqueous extracts of both plants were applied
on second instar larvae and their mortality were evaluated after 24, 48 and 72 h. The obtained results revealed that aqueous extracts of N.
tabacum and E. globulus caused 77.55 and 72.5% mortality of larvae
of L. auripila at concentration of 4000 ppm after 72h, respectively. Toxicities of tobacco extract after 24, 48 and 72 h were 1.52, 1.85
and 1.70 times greather than eucalyptus, respectively. The estimated LC50 after 24, 48 and 72 h were 7316.5, 2468.5 and 2013.1 ppm for
tobacco and 64870.0, 6839.5 and 3326.4 ppm for eucalyptus, respectively. These plants merit further study as potential insecticides
for the control of L. auripila.
Abstract: Linear Discrimination Analysis (LDA) is a linear
solution for classification of two classes. In this paper, we propose a
variant LDA method for multi-class problem which redefines the
between class and within class scatter matrices by incorporating a
weight function into each of them. The aim is to separate classes as
much as possible in a situation that one class is well separated from
other classes, incidentally, that class must have a little influence on
classification. It has been suggested to alleviate influence of classes
that are well separated by adding a weight into between class scatter
matrix and within class scatter matrix. To obtain a simple and
effective weight function, ordinary LDA between every two classes
has been used in order to find Fisher discrimination value and passed
it as an input into two weight functions and redefined between class
and within class scatter matrices. Experimental results showed that
our new LDA method improved classification rate, on glass, iris and
wine datasets, in comparison to different versions of LDA.
Abstract: Non-profit organizations, especially religious-based
institutions, have long played a very important role in society.
Nevertheless, scandals such as inefficient management and the use of
unlawful fundraising activities have raised questions regarding the
governance and accountability of these organizations. As such, the
issues have attracted considerable research interest. However, there is
still limited research on accountability in religious based
organizations, especially in the context of Islamic religious
organizations. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the
issues of accounting and accountability in religious organizations,
specifically in Islamic religious establishments. The paper starts by
looking at the conventional meaning and concept of accountability.
This is followed by a discussion of the principles of accountability
within the Islamic framework. In so doing, the history of the role of
accounting within Muslim society and also the differences between
the Islamic and conventional view of accountability are reviewed.
Insights gained from previous research on accountability in faith
based organizations are also discussed
Abstract: In this paper, linear multistep technique using power
series as the basis function is used to develop the block methods
which are suitable for generating direct solution of the special second
order ordinary differential equations with associated initial or
boundary conditions. The continuous hybrid formulations enable us
to differentiate and evaluate at some grids and off – grid points to
obtain two different four discrete schemes, each of order (5,5,5,5)T,
which were used in block form for parallel or sequential solutions of
the problems. The computational burden and computer time wastage
involved in the usual reduction of second order problem into system
of first order equations are avoided by this approach. Furthermore, a
stability analysis and efficiency of the block methods are tested on
linear and non-linear ordinary differential equations and the results
obtained compared favorably with the exact solution.
Abstract: This paper attempts to investigate the factors that influence hotel managers- attitudes towards sustainable tourism practices (STP) in Kuala Lumpur and the state of Selangor in Malaysia. The study distributes 104 questionnaires to hotels ranging from one star to five-star categories including budget hotels. Out of this figure, 60 copies of the questionnaires were returned and analyzed. The finding revealed that of all the seven factors investigated, only the variables measuring incentives and knowledge have significantly influenced sustainable tourism practices in the country. Therefore, government and other green bodies within the country should continue to provide hotels with incentives for sound technologies. Moreover, the government agencies should continue to educate hoteliers on the relevance of environmental protection for the successful implementation of sustainable tourism practices.
Abstract: Number of documents being created increases at an
increasing pace while most of them being in already known topics
and little of them introducing new concepts. This fact has started a
new era in information retrieval discipline where the requirements
have their own specialties. That is digging into topics and concepts
and finding out subtopics or relations between topics. Up to now IR
researches were interested in retrieving documents about a general
topic or clustering documents under generic subjects. However these
conventional approaches can-t go deep into content of documents
which makes it difficult for people to reach to right documents they
were searching. So we need new ways of mining document sets
where the critic point is to know much about the contents of the
documents. As a solution we are proposing to enhance LSI, one of
the proven IR techniques by supporting its vector space with n-gram
forms of words. Positive results we have obtained are shown in two
different application area of IR domain; querying a document
database, clustering documents in the document database.
Abstract: Supersonic open and closed cavity flows are investigated experimentally and computationally. Free stream Mach number of two is set. Schlieren imaging is used to visualise the flow behaviour showing stark differences between open and closed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate open cavity of flow with aspect ratio of 4. A rear wall treatment is implemented in order to pursue a simple passive control approach. Good qualitative agreement is achieved between the experimental flow visualisation and the CFD in terms of the expansion-shock waves system. The cavity oscillations are shown to be dominated by the first and third Rossister modes combining to high fluctuations of non-linear nature above the cavity rear edge. A simple rear wall treatment in terms of a hole shows mixed effect on the flow oscillations, RMS contours, and time history density fluctuations are given and analysed.
Abstract: Organic farmers across Saskatchewan face soil
phosphorus (P) shortages. Due to the restriction on inputs in organic
systems, farmers rely on crop rotation and naturally-occurring
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for plant P supply. Crop rotation
is important for disease, pest, and weed management. Crops that are
not colonized by AMF (non-mycorrhizal) can decrease colonization
of a following crop. An experiment was performed to quantify soil P
cycling in four cropping sequences under organic management and
determine if mustard (non-mycorrhizal) was delaying the
colonization of subsequent wheat. Soils from the four cropping
sequences were measured for inorganic soil P (Pi), AMF spore
density (SD), phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA, for AMF
biomarker counts), and alkaline phosphatase activity (ALPase,
related to AMF metabolic activity). Plants were measured for AMF
colonization and P content and uptake of above-ground biomass. A
lack of difference in AMF activity indicated that mustard was not
depressing colonization. Instead, AMF colonization was largely
determined by crop type and crop rotation.
Abstract: According to celebrated Hurwitz theorem, there exists
four division algebras consisting of R (real numbers), C (complex
numbers), H (quaternions) and O (octonions). Keeping in view
the utility of octonion variable we have tried to extend the three
dimensional vector analysis to seven dimensional one. Starting with
the scalar and vector product in seven dimensions, we have redefined
the gradient, divergence and curl in seven dimension. It is shown
that the identity n(n - 1)(n - 3)(n - 7) = 0 is satisfied only
for 0, 1, 3 and 7 dimensional vectors. We have tried to write all
the vector inequalities and formulas in terms of seven dimensions
and it is shown that same formulas loose their meaning in seven
dimensions due to non-associativity of octonions. The vector formulas
are retained only if we put certain restrictions on octonions and split
octonions.
Abstract: In the present analysis an unsteady laminar
forced convection water boundary layer flow is considered.
The fluid properties such as viscosity and Prandtl number are
taken as variables such that those are inversely proportional to
temperature. By using quasi-linearization technique the nonlinear
coupled partial differential equations are linearized and
the numerical solutions are obtained by using implicit finite
difference scheme with the appropriate selection of step sizes.
Non-similar solutions have been obtained from the starting
point of the stream-wise coordinate to the point where skin
friction value vanishes. The effect non-uniform mass transfer
along the surface of the cylinder through slot is studied on the
skin friction and heat transfer coefficients.
Abstract: This study include the effect of strain and storage
period and their interaction on some quantitative and qualitative traits
and percentages of the egg components in the eggs collected at the
start of production (at age 24 weeks). Eggs were divided into three
storage periods (1, 7 and 14) days under refrigerator temperature (5-
7)0C. Fifty seven eggs obtained randomly from each strain including
Isa Brown and Lohman White. General Linear Model within
SAS programme was used to analyze the collected data
and correlations between the studied traits were calculated for each
strain.Average egg weight (EW), Haugh Unit (HU), yolk index (YI),
yolk % (HP), albumin % (AP) and yolk to albumin ratio (YAR) was
56.629 gm, 87.968 %, 0.493, 22.13%, 67.74% and 32.76
respectively. Egg produced from ISA Brown surpassed those
produced by Lohman White significantly (P
Abstract: The effect of flooding can be a serious problem for
wheat farmers, even at dry land condition. Amount of flooding
damage depends on duration flooding, developmental stage, wheat
type and variety. Therefore as a factorial experiment in randomized
complete design based on winter bread wheat cultivars (Pishtaz,
Marvdasht, Shiraz, Zarin, Shahriar, C-81-4, Sardari, Agosta seed,
FGS and Azar2) at stages (Non- flooding stress, flooding at tillering
and stem elongation stages for 15 days) carried out in Faculty of
Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. During flooding,
soil environment of plant roots were water saturated. Analysis of
variance showed that flooding had a significant effect on the number
of grains per spike, grain weight per spike and a grain weight. Hence
flooding reduces the number of grain per spike between 27.1 to 42.5
percent, grain weight per spike between 34.7 to 54.4 percent and
single grain weight between 12.1 to 15.1 percent. Effects of flooding
at the tillering stage reduced higher than stem elongation stage on
studied traits. The result also showed that flooding at tillering stage
delayed spikelet primordial and floret. Between wheat cultivars was
significant for traits, but were different reactions. "Shiraz", "Zarin"
and "Shahriar" had the most no. grain per spike, but "Zarin" and
"Sardari" had the most grain weight per spike and single grain
weight, respectively. Also, interaction between start of flooding and
cultivar was significant.
Abstract: Bursa, since the establishment of the Ottoman Empire,
being on the important trade roads and having a capital accumulation
as a result of silk production, was one of the first cities of
modernization activities applied. Bursa maintained its importance
even during the Republican Period and became one of the most
important cities of the country and today is the fourth biggest and the
industrialized city in Turkey. Social, political, economical and
cultural changes occured with the reforms starting with the 1839
Edict of Tanzimat that aimed at modernizing the society and the
government and centralizing the political power began in the
Ottoman Empire. After the Tanzimat Reforms transformation of the
city changed and planning processes began in Bursa according to the
vision of Governors. The theresholds of the city are very important
data for a sustainable planning for the city planners. Main aim of this
study is to investigate the changes and transformations of the city
according to the changes in the socio-economical and cultural
properties for the city planners.
Abstract: Most of ignition delay correlations studies have been
developed in a constant volume bombs which cannot capture the
dynamic variation in pressure and temperature during the ignition
delay as in real engines. Watson, Assanis et. al. and Hardenberg
and Hase correlations have been developed based on experimental
data of diesel engines. However, they showed limited predictive
ability of ignition delay when compared to experimental results. The
objective of the study was to investigate the dependency of ignition
delay time on engine brake power. An experimental investigation of
the effect of automotive diesel and water diesel emulsion fuels on
ignition delay under steady state conditions of a direct injection diesel
engine was conducted. A four cylinder, direct injection naturally
aspirated diesel engine was used in this experiment over a wide range
of engine speeds and two engine loads. The ignition delay
experimental data were compared with predictions of Assanis et. al.
and Watson ignition delay correlations. The results of the
experimental investigation were then used to develop a new ignition
delay correlation. The newly developed ignition delay correlation has
shown a better agreement with the experimental data than Assanis et.
al. and Watson when using automotive diesel and water diesel
emulsion fuels especially at low to medium engine speeds at both
loads. In addition, the second derivative of cylinder pressure which is
the most widely used method in determining the start of combustion
was investigated.
Abstract: This paper presents a particle swarm optimization
(PSO) based approach for multiple object tracking based on histogram
matching. To start with, gray-level histograms are calculated to
establish a feature model for each of the target object. The difference
between the gray-level histogram corresponding to each particle in the
search space and the target object is used as the fitness value. Multiple
swarms are created depending on the number of the target objects
under tracking. Because of the efficiency and simplicity of the PSO
algorithm for global optimization, target objects can be tracked as
iterations continue. Experimental results confirm that the proposed
PSO algorithm can rapidly converge, allowing real-time tracking of
each target object. When the objects being tracked move outside the
tracking range, global search capability of the PSO resumes to re-trace
the target objects.