Abstract: This paper constructs a four factors theoretical model of Chinese small and medium enterprises based on the “cartoon characters- reputation - enterprise marketing and management capabilities – protection of the cartoon image - institutional environment" by literature research, case studies and investigation. The empirical study show that the greatest impact on current merchandising rights income is the institutional environment friendliness, followed by marketing and management capabilities, input of character image protection and Cartoon characters- reputation through the real-time grey relational analysis, and the greatest impact on post-merchandising rights profit is Cartoon characters reputation, followed by the institutional environment friendliness, then marketing and management ability and input of character image protection through the time-delay grey relational analysis.
Abstract: This paper aims at a new challenge of customer
satisfaction on mobile customer relationship management. In this
paper presents a conceptualization of mCRM on its unique
characteristics of customer satisfaction. Also, this paper develops an
empirical framework in conception of customer satisfaction in
mCRM. A single-case study is applied as the methodology. In order to
gain an overall view of the empirical case, this paper accesses to
invisible and important information of company in this investigation.
Interview is the key data source form the main informants of the
company through which the issues are identified and the proposed
framework is built. It supports the development of customer
satisfaction in mCRM; links this theoretical framework into practice;
and provides the direction for future research. Therefore, this paper is
very useful for the industries as it helps them to understand how
customer satisfaction changes the mCRM structure and increase the
business competitive advantage. Finally, this paper provides a
contribution in practice by linking a theoretical framework in
conception of customer satisfaction in mCRM for companies to a
practical real case.
Abstract: The PH curve can be constructed by given parameters, but the shape of the curve is not so easy to image from the value of the parameters. On the contract, Bézier curve can be constructed by the control polygon, and from the control polygon, we can image the figure of the curve. In this paper, we want to use the hodograph of Bézier curve to construct PH curve by selecting part of the control vectors, and produce other control vectors, so the property of PH curve exists.
Abstract: The kinetics of palm oil catalytic cracking over
aluminum containing mesoporous silica Al-MCM-41 (5% Al) was
investigated in a batch autoclave reactor at the temperatures range of
573 – 673 K. The catalyst was prepared by using sol-gel technique
and has been characterized by nitrogen adsorption and x-ray
diffraction methods. Surface area of 1276 m2/g with average pore
diameter of 2.54 nm and pore volume of 0.811 cm3/g was obtained.
The experimental catalytic cracking runs were conducted using 50 g
of oil and 1 g of catalyst. The reaction pressure was recorded at
different time intervals and the data were analyzed using Levenberg-
Marquardt (LM) algorithm using polymath software. The results
show that the reaction order was found to be -1.5 and activation
energy of 3200 J/gmol.
Abstract: The present study is aim to prepare and evaluate the selfnanoemulsifying drug delivery (SNEDDS) system of a poorly water soluble drug valsartan in order to achieve a better dissolution rate which would further help in enhancing oral bioavailability. The present research work describes a SNEDDS of valsartan using labrafil M 1944 CS, Tween 80 and Transcutol HP. The pseudoternary phase diagrams with presence and absence of drug were plotted to check for the emulsification range and also to evaluate the effect of valsartan on the emulsification behavior of the phases. The mixtures consisting of oil (labrafil M 1944 CS) with surfactant (tween 80), co-surfactant (Transcutol HP) were found to be optimum formulations. Prepared formulations were evaluated for its particle size distribution, nanoemulsifying properties, robustness to dilution, self emulsication time, turbidity measurement, drug content and invitro dissolution. The optimized formulations are further evaluated for heating cooling cycle, centrifugation studies, freeze thaw cycling, particle size distribution and zeta potential were carried out to confirm the stability of the formed SNEDDS formulations. The prepared formulation revealed t a significant improvement in terms of the drug solubility as compared with marketed tablet and pure drug.
Abstract: This paper shows the results of empirical research. It
presents experiences of Polish companies from the Podkarpackie
voivodeship connected with implementing EMS according to the
requirements of the ISO 14001 international standard. The incentives
to introduce and certify organizational eco-innovation, which formal
EMSs are treated as, are presented in this paper.
Abstract: Thermo-chemical treatment (TCT) such as pyrolysis
is getting recognized as a valid route for (i) materials and valuable
products and petrochemicals recovery; (ii) waste recycling; and (iii)
elemental characterization. Pyrolysis is also receiving renewed
attention for its operational, economical and environmental
advantages. In this study, samples of polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) and polystyrene (PS) were pyrolysed in a microthermobalance
reactor (using a thermogravimetric-TGA setup). Both
polymers were prepared and conditioned prior to experimentation.
The main objective was to determine the kinetic parameters of the
depolymerization reactions that occur within the thermal degradation
process. Overall kinetic rate constants (ko) and activation energies
(Eo) were determined using the general kinetics theory (GKT)
method previously used by a number of authors. Fitted correlations
were found and validated using the GKT, errors were within ± 5%.
This study represents a fundamental step to pave the way towards the
development of scaling relationship for the investigation of larger
scale reactors relevant to industry.
Abstract: This paper presents an algorithm to estimate the parameters of two closely spaced sinusoids, providing a frequency resolution that is more than 800 times greater than that obtained by using the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). The strategy uses a highly optimized grid search approach to accurately estimate frequency, amplitude and phase of both sinusoids, keeping at the same time the computational effort at reasonable levels. The proposed method has three main characteristics: 1) a high frequency resolution; 2) frequency, amplitude and phase are all estimated at once using one single package; 3) it does not rely on any statistical assumption or constraint. Potential applications to this strategy include the difficult task of resolving coincident partials of instruments in musical signals.
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to study the inspector performance by using computer based training (CBT). Visual inspection task was printed circuit board (PCB) simulated on several types of defects. Subjects were 16 undergraduate randomly selected from King Mongkut-s University of Technology Thonburi and test for 20/20. Then, they were equally divided on performance into two groups (control and treatment groups) and were provided information before running the experiment. Only treatment group was provided feedback information after first experiment. Results revealed that treatment group was showed significantly difference at the level of 0.01. The treatment group showed high percentage on defects detected. Moreover, the attitude of inspectors on using the CBT to inspection was showed on good. These results have been showed that CBT could be used for training to improve inspector performance.
Abstract: Network-Centric Air Defense Missile Systems
(NCADMS) represents the superior development of the air defense
missile systems and has been regarded as one of the major research
issues in military domain at present. Due to lack of knowledge and
experience on NCADMS, modeling and simulation becomes an effective
approach to perform operational analysis, compared with
those equation based ones. However, the complex dynamic interactions
among entities and flexible architectures of NCADMS put forward
new requirements and challenges to the simulation framework
and models. ABS (Agent-Based Simulations) explicitly addresses
modeling behaviors of heterogeneous individuals. Agents have capability
to sense and understand things, make decisions, and act on the
environment. They can also cooperate with others dynamically to
perform the tasks assigned to them. ABS proves an effective approach
to explore the new operational characteristics emerging in
NCADMS. In this paper, based on the analysis of network-centric
architecture and new cooperative engagement strategies for
NCADMS, an agent-based simulation framework by expanding the
simulation framework in the so-called System Effectiveness Analysis
Simulation (SEAS) was designed. The simulation framework specifies
components, relationships and interactions between them, the
structure and behavior rules of an agent in NCADMS. Based on scenario
simulations, information and decision superiority and operational
advantages in NCADMS were analyzed; meanwhile some
suggestions were provided for its future development.
Abstract: Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV), an avian
paramyxovirus, is a highly contagious, generalised virus disease of
domestic poultry and wild birds characterized by gastro-intestinal,
respiratory and nervous signs. In this study, it was shown that NDV
strain AF2240 and V4-UPM are cytolytic to Human Promyelocytic
Leukemia, HL60 and Human T-lymphoblastic Leukemia, CEM-SS
cells. Results from MTT cytolytic assay showed that CD50 for NDV
AF2240 against HL60 was 130 HAU and NDV V4-UPM against
HL60 and CEM-SS were 110.6 and 150.9 HAU respectively.
Besides, both strains were found to inhibit the proliferation of cells in
a dose dependent manner. The mode of cell death either by apoptosis
or necrosis was further analyzed using acridine orange and propidium
iodide (AO/PI) staining. Our results showed that both NDV strains
induced primarily apoptosis in treated cells at CD50 concentration. In
conclusion, both NDV strains caused cytolytic effects primarily via
apoptosis in leukemia cells.
Abstract: Fuzzy logic system (FLS) is used in this study to
predict the tractive performance in terms of traction force, and
motion resistance for an intelligent air cushion track vehicle while it
operates in the swamp peat. The system is effective to control the
intelligent air –cushion system with measuring the vehicle traction
force (TF), motion resistance (MR), cushion clearance height (CH)
and cushion pressure (CP). Ultrasonic displacement sensor, pull-in
solenoid electromagnetic switch, pressure control sensor, micro
controller, and battery pH sensor are incorporated with the Fuzzy
logic system to investigate experimentally the TF, MR, CH, and CP.
In this study, a comparison for tractive performance of an intelligent
air cushion track vehicle has been performed with the results obtained
from the predicted values of FLS and experimental actual values. The
mean relative error of actual and predicted values from the FLS
model on traction force, and total motion resistance are found as 5.58
%, and 6.78 % respectively. For all parameters, the relative error of
predicted values are found to be less than the acceptable limits. The
goodness of fit of the prediction values from the FLS model on TF,
and MR are found as 0.90, and 0.98 respectively.
Abstract: Tumour suppressors are key participants in the
prevention of cancer. Regulation of their expression through
miRNAs is important for comprehensive translation inhibition of
tumour suppressors and elucidation of carcinogenesis mechanisms.
We studies the possibility of 1521 miRNAs to bind with 873 mRNAs
of human tumour suppressors using RNAHybrid 2.1 and ERNAhybrid
programmes. Only 978 miRNAs were found to be
translational regulators of 812 mRNAs, and 61 mRNAs did not have
any miRNA binding sites. Additionally, 45.9% of all miRNA binding
sites were located in coding sequences (CDSs), 33.8% were located
in 3' untranslated region (UTR), and 20.3% were located in the
5'UTR. MiRNAs binding with more than 50 target mRNAs and
mRNAs binding with several miRNAs were selected. Hsa-miR-5096
had 15 perfectly complementary binding sites with mRNAs of 14
tumour suppressors. These newly indentified miRNA binding sites
can be used in the development of medicines (anti-sense therapies)
for cancer treatment.
Abstract: This article investigates a contribution of synthesized visual speech. Synthesis of visual speech expressed by a computer consists in an animation in particular movements of lips. Visual speech is also necessary part of the non-manual component of a sign language. Appropriate methodology is proposed to determine the quality and the accuracy of synthesized visual speech. Proposed methodology is inspected on Czech speech. Hence, this article presents a procedure of recording of speech data in order to set a synthesis system as well as to evaluate synthesized speech. Furthermore, one option of the evaluation process is elaborated in the form of a perceptual test. This test procedure is verified on the measured data with two settings of the synthesis system. The results of the perceptual test are presented as a statistically significant increase of intelligibility evoked by real and synthesized visual speech. Now, the aim is to show one part of evaluation process which leads to more comprehensive evaluation of the sign speech synthesis system.
Abstract: Accounts of language acquisition differ significantly in their treatment of the role of prediction in language learning. In particular, nativist accounts posit that probabilistic learning about words and word sequences has little to do with how children come to use language. The accuracy of this claim was examined by testing whether distributional probabilities and frequency contributed to how well 3-4 year olds repeat simple word chunks. Corresponding chunks were the same length, expressed similar content, and were all grammatically acceptable, yet the results of the study showed marked differences in performance when overall distributional frequency varied. It was found that a distributional model of language predicted the empirical findings better than a number of other models, replicating earlier findings and showing that children attend to distributional probabilities in an adult corpus. This suggested that language is more prediction-and-error based, rather than on abstract rules which nativist camps suggest.
Abstract: Hypernetworks are a generalized graph structure
representing higher-order interactions between variables. We present a
method for self-organizing hypernetworks to learn an associative
memory of sentences and to recall the sentences from this memory.
This learning method is inspired by the “mental chemistry" model of
cognition and the “molecular self-assembly" technology in
biochemistry. Simulation experiments are performed on a corpus of
natural-language dialogues of approximately 300K sentences
collected from TV drama captions. We report on the sentence
completion performance as a function of the order of word-interaction
and the size of the learning corpus, and discuss the plausibility of this
architecture as a cognitive model of language learning and memory.
Abstract: A spanning tree of a connected graph is a tree which
consists the set of vertices and some or perhaps all of the edges from
the connected graph. In this paper, a model for spanning tree
transformation of connected graphs into single-row networks, namely
Spanning Tree of Connected Graph Modeling (STCGM) will be
introduced. Path-Growing Tree-Forming algorithm applied with
Vertex-Prioritized is contained in the model to produce the spanning
tree from the connected graph. Paths are produced by Path-Growing
and they are combined into a spanning tree by Tree-Forming. The
spanning tree that is produced from the connected graph is then
transformed into single-row network using Tree Sequence Modeling
(TSM). Finally, the single-row routing problem is solved using a
method called Enhanced Simulated Annealing for Single-Row
Routing (ESSR).
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the
controversial subject of tax incentives to promote regional
development. Although extensive research has been conducted, a
review of the literature gives an inconclusive answer to whether
economic incentives are effective. One reason is the fact that for
some researchers “effective" means the significant location of new
firms in targeted areas, while for others the creation of jobs
regardless if new firms are arriving in a significant fashion. We
present this dichotomy by analyzing a tax incentive program via both
alternatives: location and job creation. The contribution of the paper
is to inform policymakers about the potential opportunities and
pitfalls when designing incentive strategies. This is particularly
relevant, given that both the US and Europe have been promoting
incentives as a tool for regional economic development.
Abstract: The biological activity of A. pullulans isolates against
species of the genus Fusarium, bacteria of the genus Azotobacter and
pseudomonads colonizing wheat kernels was evaluated. A field
experiment was carried out in 2009-2011, in north-eastern Poland.
Winter wheat (cv. Bogatka) plants were sprayed with a cell
suspension of A. pullulans at a density of 106 - 108 per cm3 water at
the stem elongation stage and the heading stage. Untreated plants
served as control. The abundance of epiphytic yeasts, bacteria of the
genus Azotobacter, pseudomonads and Fusarium pathogens on wheat
grain was estimated at harvest and after six months’ storage. The
average size of yeast communities was significantly greater on wheat
kernels treated with a cell suspension of A. pullulans, compared with
control samples. In 2010-2011, biological control reduced the
abundance of some species of the genus Fusarium.
Abstract: The Kowsar dam supply water for different usages
such as drinking, industrial, agricultural and aquaculture farms
usages and located next to the city of Dehdashat in Kohgiluye and
Boyerahmad province in southern Iran. There are some towns and
villages on the Kowsar dam watersheds, which Dehdasht and Choram
are the most important and populated cities in this area. The study
was undertaken to assess the status of water quality in the urban areas
of the Kowsar dam. A total of 28 water samples were collected from
6 stations on surface water and 1 station from groundwater on the
watershed of the Kowsar dam. All the samples were analyzed for Ni
concentration using standard procedures. The results were compared
with other national and international standards. Among the analyzed
samples, as the maximum value of Nickel (0.01 mg/L) was observed
on the station 2 at the autumn 2010, all the samples analyzed were
within the maximum admissible limits by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency, EU, WHO and the Iranian. In
general results of the present study have shown that a Ni mean value
of station No. 2 with 0.006 mg/L is higher than the other stations. Ni
level of all samples and stations have had normal values and this is an
indication of pollution potential and hazards because of human
activity and waste water of towns in the areas, which can effect on
human health implications in future. This research, therefore,
recommends the government and other responsible authorities to take
suitable improving measures in the Kowsar dam watersheds.