Abstract: Social media continues to grow, and user interfaces
may become more appealing if cultural characteristics are
incorporated into their design.
Facebook was designed in the west, and the original language was
English. Subsequently, the words in the user interface were translated
to other languages, including Arabic.
Arabic words are written from right to left, and English is written
from left to right. The translated version may misrepresent the
original design and users’ preferences may be influenced by their
culture, which should be considered in the user interface design.
Previous research indicates that users are more comfortable when
interacting with a user interface, which relates to their own culture.
Therefore, this paper, using a survey, investigates the preferences of
Saudi Arabians on the Arabic version of the user interface of
Facebook.
Abstract: Communicating and managing customers’
requirements in software development projects play a vital role in the
software development process. While it is difficult to do so locally, it
is even more difficult to communicate these requirements over
distributed boundaries and to convey them to multiple distribution
customers. This paper discusses the communication of multiple
distribution customers’ requirements in the context of customised
software products. The main purpose is to understand the challenges
of communicating and managing customisation requirements across
distributed boundaries. We propose a model for Communicating
Customisation Requirements of Multi-Clients in a Distributed
Domain (CCRD). Thereafter, we evaluate that model by presenting
the findings of a case study conducted with a company with
customisation projects for 18 distributed customers. Then, we
compare the outputs of the real case process and the outputs of the
CCRD model using simulation methods. Our conjecture is that the
CCRD model can reduce the challenge of communication
requirements over distributed organisational boundaries, and the
delay in decision making and in the entire customisation process
time.
Abstract: This paper discusses the role of music as a ludic
activity and constituent element of voice in the construction and
consolidation of the relationship of the baby and his/her mother or
caretaker, evaluating its implications in his/her psychic structure and
constitution as a subject. The work was based on the research
developed as part of the author’s doctoral activities carried out from
her insertion in a project of the Music Department of Federal
University of Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, which objective was the
development of musical activities with groups of babies from 0 to 24
months old and their caretakers. Observations, video recordings of
the meetings, audio testemonies, and evaluation tools applied to
group participants were used as instruments for this research.
Information was collected on the participation of 195 babies, among
which 8 were more focused on through interviews with their mothers
or caretakers. These interviews were analyzed based on the
referential of French Discourse Analysis, Psychoanalysis, Psychology
of Development and Musical Education. The results of the research
were complemented by other posterior experiences that the author
developed with similar groups, in a context of a private clinic. The
information collected allowed the observation of the ludic and
structural functions of musical activities, when developed in a
structured environment, as well as the importance of the musicality of
the mother’s voice to the psychical structuring of the baby, allowing
his/her insertion in the language and his/her constitution as a subject.
Abstract: In EFL programs, rating scales used in writing
assessment are often constructed by intuition. Intuition-based scales
tend to provide inaccurate and divisive ratings of learners’ writing
performance. Hence, following an empirical approach, this study
attempted to develop a rating scale for elementary-level writing at an
EFL program in Saudi Arabia. Towards this goal, 98 students’ essays
were scored and then coded using comprehensive taxonomy of
writing constructs and their measures. An automatic linear modeling
was run to find out which measures would best predict essay scores.
A nonparametric ANOVA, the Kruskal-Wallis test, was then used to
determine which measures could best differentiate among scoring
levels. Findings indicated that there were certain measures that could
serve as either good predictors of essay scores or differentiators
among scoring levels, or both. The main conclusion was that a rating
scale can be empirically developed using predictive and
discriminative statistical tests.
Abstract: Children are more susceptible to medication errors
than adults. Medication administration process is the last stage in the
medication treatment process and most of the errors detected in this
stage. Little research has been undertaken about medication errors in
children in the Middle East countries. This study was aimed to
evaluate how the paediatric nurses adhere to the medication
administration policy and also to identify any medication preparation
and administration errors or any risk factors. An observational,
prospective study of medication administration process from when
the nurses preparing patient medication until administration stage
(May to August 2014) was conducted in Saudi Arabia. Twelve
paediatric nurses serving 90 paediatric patients were observed. 456
drug administered doses were evaluated. Adherence rate was variable
in 7 steps out of 16 steps. Patient allergy information, dose
calculation, drug expiry date were the steps in medication
administration with lowest adherence rates. 63 medication
preparation and administration errors were identified with error rate
13.8% of medication administrations. No potentially life-threating
errors were witnessed. Few logistic and administrative factors were
reported. The results showed that the medication administration
policy and procedure need an urgent revision to be more sensible for
nurses in practice. Nurses’ knowledge and skills regarding to the
medication administration process should be improved.
Abstract: Recommendation systems are widely used in
e-commerce applications. The engine of a current recommendation
system recommends items to a particular user based on user
preferences and previous high ratings. Various recommendation
schemes such as collaborative filtering and content-based approaches
are used to build a recommendation system. Most of current
recommendation systems were developed to fit a certain domain such
as books, articles, and movies. We propose1 a hybrid framework
recommendation system to be applied on two dimensional spaces
(User × Item) with a large number of Users and a small number
of Items. Moreover, our proposed framework makes use of both
favorite and non-favorite items of a particular user. The proposed
framework is built upon the integration of association rules mining
and the content-based approach. The results of experiments show
that our proposed framework can provide accurate recommendations
to users.
Abstract: Due to the importance of ports to trade and economic
development of the regions in which they are inserted, in recent
decades the number of studies devoted to this subject has increased.
Part of these studies considers the ports as business agglomerations
and focuses on port governance. This is an important approach since
the port performance is the result of activities performed by actors
belonging to the port-logistics chain, which need to be properly
coordinated. This coordination takes place through a port governance
model. Given this context, this study aims to analyze the governance
model of the port of Santos from the perspective of port customers.
To do this, a closed-ended questionnaire based on a conceptual model
that considers the key dimensions associated with port governance
was applied to the international freight forwarders that operate in the
port. The results show the applicability of the considered model and
highlight improvement opportunities to be implemented at the port of
Santos.
Abstract: Adapting quickly to environmental dynamism is
essential for an organization to develop outsourcing strategic and
management in order to sustain competitive advantage. This research
used the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM)
tool to investigate the factors of environmental dynamism
impact on the strategic outsourcing success among electrical and
electronic manufacturing industries in outsourcing management.
Statistical results confirm that the inclusion of customer demand,
technological change, and competition level as a new combination
concept of environmental dynamism, has positive effects on
outsourcing success. Additionally, this research demonstrates the
acceptability of PLS-SEM as a statistical analysis to furnish a better
understanding of environmental dynamism in outsourcing
management in Malaysia. A practical finding contributes to
academics and practitioners in the field of outsourcing management.
Abstract: Monocopter is a single-wing rotary flying vehicle
which has the capability of hovering. This flying vehicle includes two
dynamic parts in which more efficiency can be expected rather than
other Micro UAVs due to the extended area of wing compared to its
fuselage. Low cost and simple mechanism in comparison to other
vehicles such as helicopter are the most important specifications of
this flying vehicle.
In the previous paper we discussed the introduction of the final
system but in this paper, the experimental design process of
Monocopter and its control algorithm has been investigated in
general. Also the editorial bugs in the previous article have been
corrected and some translational ambiguities have been resolved.
Initially by constructing several prototypes and carrying out many
flight tests the main design parameters of this air vehicle were
obtained by experimental measurements. Eventually the required
main monocopter for this project was constructed. After construction
of the monocopter in order to design, implementation and testing of
control algorithms first a simple optic system used for determining
the heading angle. After doing numerous tests on Test Stand, the
control algorithm designed and timing of applying control inputs
adjusted. Then other control parameters of system were tuned in
flight tests. Eventually the final control system designed and
implemented using the AHRS sensor and the final operational tests
performed successfully.
Abstract: Components with sensory properties such as gentelligent components developed at the Collaborative Research Centre 653 offer a new angle in terms of the full utilization of the remaining service life as well as preventive maintenance. The developed methodology of component status driven maintenance analyzes the stress data obtained during the component's useful life and on the basis of this knowledge assesses the type of maintenance required in this case. The procedure is derived from the case-based reasoning method and will be explained in detail. The method's functionality is demonstrated with real-life data obtained during test runs of a racing car prototype.
Abstract: Structured Query Language (SQL) is the standard de facto language to access and manipulate data in a relational database. Although SQL is a language that is simple and powerful, most novice users will have trouble with SQL syntax. Thus, we are presenting SQL generator tool which is capable of translating actions and displaying SQL commands and data sets simultaneously. The tool was developed based on Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. The MVC pattern is a widely used software design pattern that enforces the separation between the input, processing, and output of an application. Developers take full advantage of it to reduce the complexity in architectural design and to increase flexibility and reuse of code. In addition, we use White-Box testing for the code verification in the Model module.
Abstract: Creating a database scheme is essentially a manual
process. From a requirement specification the information contained
within has to be analyzed and reduced into a set of tables, attributes
and relationships. This is a time consuming process that has to go
through several stages before an acceptable database schema is
achieved. The purpose of this paper is to implement a Natural
Language Processing (NLP) based tool to produce a relational
database from a requirement specification. The Stanford CoreNLP
version 3.3.1 and the Java programming were used to implement the
proposed model. The outcome of this study indicates that a first draft
of a relational database schema can be extracted from a requirement
specification by using NLP tools and techniques with minimum user
intervention. Therefore this method is a step forward in finding a
solution that requires little or no user intervention.
Abstract: We model and simulate the combined effect of fiber
dispersion and frequency chirp of a directly modulated high-speed
laser diode on the figures of merit of a non-amplified 40-Gbps optical
fiber link. We consider both the return to zero (RZ) and non-return to
zero (NRZ) patterns of the pseudorandom modulation bits. The
performance of the fiber communication system is assessed by the
fiber-length limitation due to the fiber dispersion. We study the
influence of replacing standard single-mode fibers by non-zero
dispersion-shifted fibers on the maximum fiber length and evaluate
the associated power penalty. We introduce new dispersion
tolerances for 1-dB power penalty of the RZ and NRZ 40-Gbps
optical fiber links.
Abstract: Floods play a key role in landform evolution of an
area. This process is likely to alter the topography of the earth’s
surface. The present study area, Kota Bharu is very prone to floods
extends from upstream of Kelantan River near Kemubu to the
downstream area near Kuala Besar. These flood events which occur
every year in the study area exhibit a strong bearing on river
morphological set-up. In the present study, three satellite imageries of
different time periods have been used to manifest the post-flood
landform changes. The pre-processing of the images such as subset,
geometric corrections and atmospheric corrections were carried-out
using ENVI 4.5 followed by the analysis processes. Twenty sets of
cross sections were plotted using software Erdas 9.2, ERDAS and
ArcGis 10 for the all three images. The results show a significant
change in the length of the cross section which suggest that the
geomorphological processes play a key role in carving and shaping
the river banks during the floods.
Abstract: Animal fats (camel, sheep, goat, rabbit and chicken)
and vegetable oils (corn, sunflower, palm oil and olive oil) were
substituted with different proportions (1, 5, 10 and 20%) of lard.
Fatty acid composition in TG and 2-MG were determined using
lipase hydrolysis and gas chromatography before and after
adulteration. Results indicated that, genuine lard had a high
proportion (60.97%) of the total palmitic acid at 2-MG. However, it
was 8.70%, 16.40%, 11.38%, 10.57%, 29.97 and 8.97% for camel,
beef, sheep, goat, rabbit and chicken, respectively. It could be noticed
also the position-2-MG is mostly occupied by unsaturated fatty acids
among all tested fats except lard. Vegetable oils (corn, sunflower,
palm oil and olive oil) revealed that the levels of palmitic acid
esterifies at 2-MG position was 6.84, 1.43, 9.86 and 1.70%,
respectively. It could be observed also the studied oils had a higher
level of unsaturated fatty acids in the same position, compared with
animal fats under investigation. Moreover, palmitic acid esterifies at
2-MG and PAEF increased gradually as the substituted levels
increased among all tested fat and oil samples. Statistical analysis
showed that the PAEF correlated well with lard level. The detection
of lard in some commercial processed foods (5 French fries, 4 Butter
fats, 5 processed meat and 6 candy samples) was carried out. Results
revealed that 2 samples of French fries and 4 samples of processed
meat contained lard due to their higher PAEF, while butter fat and
candy were free of lard.
Abstract: Today’s modern interconnected power system is
highly complex in nature. In this, one of the most important
requirements during the operation of the electric power system is the
reliability and security. Power and frequency oscillation damping
mechanism improve the reliability. Because of power system
stabilizer (PSS) low speed response against of major fault such as
three phase short circuit, FACTs devise that can control the network
condition in very fast time, are becoming popular. But FACTs
capability can be seen in a major fault present when nonlinear models
of FACTs devise and power system equipment are applied. To realize
this aim, the model of multi-machine power system with FACTs
controller is developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK using Sim Power
System (SPS) blockiest. Among the FACTs device, Static
synchronous series compensator (SSSC) due to high speed changes
its reactance characteristic inductive to capacitive, is effective power
flow controller. Tuning process of controller parameter can be
performed using different method. But Genetic Algorithm (GA)
ability tends to use it in controller parameter tuning process. In this
paper firstly POD controller is used to power oscillation damping.
But in this station, frequency oscillation dos not has proper damping
situation. So FOD controller that is tuned using GA is using that
cause to damp out frequency oscillation properly and power
oscillation damping has suitable situation.
Abstract: The extermination and proper disposal of
pharmaceutical wastes from expired and unused medications remains
a disputable issue due to their specific nature and characteristics.
Even though the hazards from these wastes are already well known in
terms of environment and human health, people still treat them as
usual wastes. At a national level, in many countries the management
of pharmaceutical and medical wastes has been one of the main
objectives in order to protect people’s health and the environment.
Even though many legal regulations exist in this respect, there has not
been a single law that would clearly explain the procedures of
returning medicines, ways of selection, treatment and extermination
of pharmaceutical wastes. This paper aims at analyzing the practices
of pharmaceutical waste management and treatment in some
European countries as well as a review of the legislation and official
guidelines in managing these kinds of wastes and protecting the
environment and human health. A suitable treatment and
management of expired medications and other similar wastes would
be in the interest of public health in the first place, as well as in the
interest of healthcare institutions and other bodies engaged in
environment protection.
Abstract: Search engine plays an important role in internet, to
retrieve the relevant documents among the huge number of web
pages. However, it retrieves more number of documents, which are
all relevant to your search topics. To retrieve the most meaningful
documents related to search topics, ranking algorithm is used in
information retrieval technique. One of the issues in data miming is
ranking the retrieved document. In information retrieval the ranking
is one of the practical problems. This paper includes various Page
Ranking algorithms, page segmentation algorithms and compares
those algorithms used for Information Retrieval. Diverse Page Rank
based algorithms like Page Rank (PR), Weighted Page Rank (WPR),
Weight Page Content Rank (WPCR), Hyperlink Induced Topic
Selection (HITS), Distance Rank, Eigen Rumor, Distance Rank Time
Rank, Tag Rank, Relational Based Page Rank and Query Dependent
Ranking algorithms are discussed and compared.
Abstract: Learner motivation is considered to be an important
component for the Blended e-Learning (BL) Method. BL is an
effective learning method in multiple domains, which opens several
opportunities for its participants to engage in the learning
environment. This research explores the learners’ perspective of BL
according to the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). It identifies the
opportunities and challenges for using the BL in Logistics Education
(LE) in Egyptian Higher Education (HE). SDT is approached from
different perspectives within the relationship between Intrinsic
Motivation (IM), Extrinsic Motivation (EM) and Amotivation (AM).
A self-administered face-to-face questionnaire was used to collect
data from learners who were geographically widely spread around
three colleges of International Transport and Logistics (CILTs) at the
Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport
(AAST&MT) in Egypt. Six hundred and sixteen undergraduates
responded to a questionnaire survey. Respondents were drawn from
three branches in Greater Cairo, Alexandria, and Port Said. The data
analysis used was SPSS 22 and AMOS 18.
Abstract: Ontologies provide a common understanding of a
specific domain of interest that can be communicated between people
and used as background knowledge for automated reasoning in a
wide range of applications. In this paper, we address the design of
multilingual ontologies following well-defined knowledge
engineering methodologies with the support of novel collaborative
development approaches. In particular, we present a collaborative
platform which allows ontologies to be developed incrementally in
multiple languages. This is made possible via an appropriate mapping
between language independent concepts and one lexicalization per
language (or a lexical gap in case such lexicalization does not exist).
The collaborative platform has been designed to support the
development of the Universal Knowledge Core, a multilingual
ontology currently in English, Italian, Chinese, Mongolian, Hindi and
Bangladeshi. Its design follows a workflow-based development
methodology that models resources as a set of collaborative objects
and assigns customizable workflows to build and maintain each
collaborative object in a community driven manner, with extensive
support of modern web 2.0 social and collaborative features.