Abstract: This paper proposes an Interactive Chinese Character
Learning System (ICCLS) based on pictorial evolution as an
edutainment concept in computer-based learning of language. The
advantage of the language origination itself is taken as a learning
platform due to the complexity in Chinese language as compared to
other types of languages. Users especially children enjoy more by
utilize this learning system because they are able to memories the
Chinese Character easily and understand more of the origin of the
Chinese character under pleasurable learning environment, compares
to traditional approach which children need to rote learning Chinese
Character under un-pleasurable environment. Skeletonization is used
as the representation of Chinese character and object with an animated
pictograph evolution to facilitate the learning of the language. Shortest
skeleton path matching technique is employed for fast and accurate
matching in our implementation. User is required to either write a
word or draw a simple 2D object in the input panel and the matched
word and object will be displayed as well as the pictograph evolution
to instill learning. The target of computer-based learning system is for
pre-school children between 4 to 6 years old to learn Chinese
characters in a flexible and entertaining manner besides utilizing
visual and mind mapping strategy as learning methodology.
Abstract: The contribution deals with analysis of identity style
at adolescents (N=463) at the age from 16 to 19 (the average age is
17,7 years). We used the Identity Style Inventory by Berzonsky,
distinguishing three basic, measured identity styles: informational,
normative, diffuse-avoidant identity style and also commitment. The
informational identity style influencing on personal adaptability,
coping strategies, quality of life and the normative identity style, it
means the style in which an individual takes on models of authorities
at self-defining were found to have the highest representation in the
studied group of adolescents by higher scores at girls in comparison
with boys. The normative identity style positively correlates with the
informational identity style. The diffuse-avoidant identity style was
found to be positively associated with maladaptive decisional
strategies, neuroticism and depressive reactions. There is the style,
in which the individual shifts aside defining his personality. In our
research sample the lowest score represents it and negatively
correlates with commitment, it means with coping strategies, thrust in
oneself and the surrounding world. The age of adolescents did not
significantly differentiate representation of identity style. We were
finding the model, in which informational and normative identity
style had positive relationship and the informational and diffuseavoidant
style had negative relationship, which were determinated
with commitment. In the same time the commitment is influenced
with other outside factors.
Abstract: One of the most ancient humankind concerns is knowledge formalization i.e. what a concept is. Concept Analysis, a branch of analytical philosophy, relies on the purpose of decompose the elements, relations and meanings of a concept. This paper aims at presenting a method to make a concept analysis obtaining a knowledge representation suitable to be processed by a computer system using either object-oriented or ontology technologies. Security notion is, usually, known as a set of different concepts related to “some kind of protection". Our method concludes that a more general framework for the concept, despite it is dynamic, is possible and any particular definition (instantiation) depends on the elements used by its construction instead of the concept itself.
Abstract: Sharing the manufacturing facility through remote
operation and monitoring of a machining process is challenge for
effective use the production facility. Several automation tools in term
of hardware and software are necessary for successfully remote
operation of a machine. This paper presents a prototype of workpiece
holding attachment for remote operation of milling process by self
configuration the workpiece setup. The prototype is designed with
mechanism to reorient the work surface into machining spindle
direction with high positioning accuracy. Variety of parts geometry
is hold by attachment to perform single setup machining. Pin type
with array pattern additionally clamps the workpiece surface from
two opposite directions for increasing the machining rigidity.
Optimum pins configuration for conforming the workpiece geometry
with minimum deformation is determined through hybrid algorithms,
Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO).
Prototype with intelligent optimization technique enables to hold
several variety of workpiece geometry which is suitable for
machining low of repetitive production in remote operation.
Abstract: Limited competition has been a serious concern in infrastructure procurement. Importantly, however, there are normally a number of potential bidders initially showing interest in proposed projects. This paper focuses on tackling the question why these initially interested bidders fade out. An empirical problem is that no bids of fading-out firms are observable. They could decide not to enter the process at the beginning of the tendering or may be technically disqualified at any point in the selection process. The paper applies the double selection model to procurement data from road development projects in developing countries and shows that competition ends up restricted, because bidders are self-selective and auctioneers also tend to limit participation depending on the size of contracts.Limited competition would likely lead to high infrastructure procurement costs, threatening fiscal sustainability and economic growth.
Abstract: The present study aims to explore the role of parents'
ethnic socialization practices contributes to the ethnic identity
development, self-esteem and psychological adjustment of multi
ethnic children in Sabah, Malaysia. A total of 342 multi ethnic
children (age range = 10 years old to 14 years old; mean age = 12.65
years, SD = 0.88) and their parents participated in the present study.
The modified version of Multi group Ethnic Identity Measure
(MEIM), The Familial Ethnic Socialization Measure (FESM). The
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) and Behavioral and Emotional
Rating Scale Edition 2 (BERS-2) were used in this study. The results
showed that: i) parents' ethnic socialization practice was a strong
predictor of ethnic identity development of multi ethnic children; ii)
parents' ethnic socialization practice also was a significant predictor
of self-esteem of multi ethnic children; iii) parents' ethnic
socialization practice was not a significant predictor of psychological
adjustment of multi ethnic children. The results of this study showed
the implications parents' ethnic socialization practices and ethnic
identity development in successful multi ethnic families.
Abstract: In this paper, the order, size and degree of the nodes
of the isomorphic fuzzy graphs are discussed. Isomorphism between
fuzzy graphs is proved to be an equivalence relation. Some properties
of self complementary and self weak complementary fuzzy graphs
are discussed.
Abstract: In this work, we present for the first time in our perception an efficient digital watermarking scheme for mpeg audio layer 3 files that operates directly in the compressed data domain, while manipulating the time and subband/channel domain. In addition, it does not need the original signal to detect the watermark. Our scheme was implemented taking special care for the efficient usage of the two limited resources of computer systems: time and space. It offers to the industrial user the capability of watermark embedding and detection in time immediately comparable to the real music time of the original audio file that depends on the mpeg compression, while the end user/audience does not face any artifacts or delays hearing the watermarked audio file. Furthermore, it overcomes the disadvantage of algorithms operating in the PCMData domain to be vulnerable to compression/recompression attacks, as it places the watermark in the scale factors domain and not in the digitized sound audio data. The strength of our scheme, that allows it to be used with success in both authentication and copyright protection, relies on the fact that it gives to the users the enhanced capability their ownership of the audio file not to be accomplished simply by detecting the bit pattern that comprises the watermark itself, but by showing that the legal owner knows a hard to compute property of the watermark.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is description of the notion of
the death for prisoners and the ways of deal with. They express
indifference, coldness, inability to accept the blame, they have no
shame and no empathy. Is it enough to perform acts verging on the
death. In this paper we described mechanisms and regularities of selfdestructive
behaviour in the view of the relevant literature? The
explanation of the phenomenon is of a biological and sociopsychological
nature. It must be clearly stated that all forms of selfdestructive
behaviour result from various impulses, conflicts and
deficits. That is why they should be treated differently in terms of
motivation and functions which they perform in a given group of
people. Behind self-destruction there seems to be a motivational
mechanism which forces prisoners to rebel and fight against the hated
law and penitentiary systems. The imprisoned believe that pain and
suffering inflicted on them by themselves are better than passive
acceptance of repression. The variety of self-destruction acts is wide,
and some of them take strange forms. We assume that a life-death
barrier is a kind of game for them. If they cannot change the
degrading situation, their life loses sense.
Abstract: In the recent works related with mixture discriminant
analysis (MDA), expectation and maximization (EM) algorithm is
used to estimate parameters of Gaussian mixtures. But, initial values
of EM algorithm affect the final parameters- estimates. Also, when
EM algorithm is applied two times, for the same data set, it can be
give different results for the estimate of parameters and this affect the
classification accuracy of MDA. Forthcoming this problem, we use
Self Organizing Mixture Network (SOMN) algorithm to estimate
parameters of Gaussians mixtures in MDA that SOMN is more robust
when random the initial values of the parameters are used [5]. We
show effectiveness of this method on popular simulated waveform
datasets and real glass data set.
Abstract: Some believe that stigma is the worst side effect of the
people who have mental illness. Mental illness researchers have
focused on the influence of mass media on the stigmatization of the
people with mental illness. However, no studies have investigated the
effects of the interactive media, such as blogs, on the stigmatization
of mentally ill people, even though the media have a significant
influence on people in all areas of life. The purpose of this study is to
investigate the use of interactivity in destigmatization of the mentally
ill and the moderating effect of self-construal (independent versus
interdependent self-construal) on the relation between interactivity
and destigmatization. The findings suggested that people in the
human-human interaction condition had less social distance toward
people with mental illness. Additionally, participants with higher
independence showed more favorable affection and less social
distance toward mentally ill people. Finally, direct contact with
mentally ill people increased a person-s positive affect toward people
with mental illness. The current study should provide insights for
mental health practitioners by suggesting how they can use
interactive media to approach the public that stigmatizes the mentally
ill.
Abstract: Software reliability, defined as the probability of a
software system or application functioning without failure or errors
over a defined period of time, has been an important area of research
for over three decades. Several research efforts aimed at developing
models to improve reliability are currently underway. One of the
most popular approaches to software reliability adopted by some of
these research efforts involves the use of operational profiles to
predict how software applications will be used. Operational profiles
are a quantification of usage patterns for a software application. The
research presented in this paper investigates an innovative multiagent
framework for automatic creation and management of
operational profiles for generic distributed systems after their release
into the market. The architecture of the proposed Operational Profile
MAS (Multi-Agent System) is presented along with detailed
descriptions of the various models arrived at following the analysis
and design phases of the proposed system. The operational profile in
this paper is extended to comprise seven different profiles. Further,
the criticality of operations is defined using a new composed metrics
in order to organize the testing process as well as to decrease the time
and cost involved in this process. A prototype implementation of the
proposed MAS is included as proof-of-concept and the framework is
considered as a step towards making distributed systems intelligent
and self-managing.
Abstract: The data measurement of mean velocity has been
taken for the wake of single circular cylinder with three different diameters for two different velocities. The effects of change in
diameter and in velocity are studied in self-similar coordinate system.
The spatial variations of velocity defect and that of the half-width
have been investigated. The results are compared with those
published by H.Schlichting. In the normalized coordinates, it is also observed that all cases except for the first station are self-similar. By attention to self-similarity profiles of mean velocity, it is observed for all the cases at the each station curves tend to zero at a same point.
Abstract: Intrusion Detection Systems are increasingly a key
part of systems defense. Various approaches to Intrusion Detection
are currently being used, but they are relatively ineffective. Artificial
Intelligence plays a driving role in security services. This paper
proposes a dynamic model Intelligent Intrusion Detection System,
based on specific AI approach for intrusion detection. The
techniques that are being investigated includes neural networks and
fuzzy logic with network profiling, that uses simple data mining
techniques to process the network data. The proposed system is a
hybrid system that combines anomaly, misuse and host based
detection. Simple Fuzzy rules allow us to construct if-then rules that
reflect common ways of describing security attacks. For host based
intrusion detection we use neural-networks along with self
organizing maps. Suspicious intrusions can be traced back to its
original source path and any traffic from that particular source will
be redirected back to them in future. Both network traffic and system
audit data are used as inputs for both.
Abstract: In this paper, multilayered coreless printed circuit
board (PCB) step-down power transformers for DC-DC converter
applications have been designed, manufactured and evaluated. A set
of two different circular spiral step-down transformers were
fabricated in the four layered PCB. These transformers have been
modelled with the assistance of high frequency equivalent circuit and
characterized with both sinusoidal and square wave excitation. This
paper provides the comparative results of these two different
transformers in terms of their resistances, self, leakage, mutual
inductances, coupling coefficient and also their energy efficiencies.
The operating regions for optimal performance of these transformers
for power transfer applications are determined. These transformers
were tested for the output power levels of about 30 Watts within the
input voltage range of 12-50 Vrms. The energy efficiency for these
step down transformers is observed to be in the range of 90%-97% in
MHz frequency region.
Abstract: Currently, the demand for marine and fisheries commodity in Yogyakarta, Indonesia continues to increase. The existing condition shows that the aquaculture supply cannot be supplied by Yogyakarta region itself, but still need to be supported by regions outside Yogyakarta. The effort to optimize the market is initiated by reviewing and designing the supply chain of production and trade of aquaculture commodity in order to create the implementation of aquaculture production and trade commodity optimally. This formulated supply chain model indicates 4 performance indicators of measurable success in terms of: (1) efficiency; (2) flexibility; (3) responsiveness; and (4) quality. These indicators had been exercised as the success benchmarks for priority marketing management in local level as well as national level. The result of this research indicates that if the catfish fishery system is managed as business as usual then the catfish demand in Yogyakarta region will experience to increase in the future. The increase of demand is inline with the increase of number of people in Yogyakarta and also the fluctuation of catfish consumption per capita. The highest production of catfish will experience in the third year approximately 30,118 tons. Other result of the research indicates that the catfish demand in Yogyakarta region cannot be supplied yet from the local region. Therefore, to fulfill the supply from outside Yogyakarta region, the local farmers should improve the supply through land extension. The fluctuation of commodity price will experience in the future annually and the catfish supply from outside Yogyakarta region will be lowering the price in the market.
Abstract: Employee-s task performance has been recognized as a
core contributor to overall organizational effectiveness. Hence,
verifying the determinants of task performance is one of the most
important research issues. This study tests the influence of perceived
organizational support, abusive supervision, and exchange ideology
on employee-s task performance. We examined our hypotheses by
collecting self-reported data from 413 Korean employees in different
organizations. Our all hypotheses gained support from the results.
Implications for research and directions for future research are
discussed.
Abstract: Biological, psychological and social experiences and
perceptions of healthcare services in patients medically diagnosed of
coronary heart disease were investigated using a sample of 10
participants whose responses to the in-depth interview questions
were analyzed based on inter-and-intra-case analyses. The results
obtained revealed that advancing age, single status, divorce and/or
death of spouse and the issue of single parenting negatively impacted
patients- biopsychosocial experiences. The patients- experiences of
physical signs and symptoms, anxiety and depression, past serious
medical conditions, use of self-prescribed medications, family
history of poor mental/medical or physical health, nutritional
problems and insufficient physical activities heightened their risk of
coronary attack. Collectivist culture served as a big source of relieve
to the patients. Patients- temperament, experience of different
chronic life stresses/challenges, mood alteration, regular drinking,
smoking/gambling, and family/social impairments compounded their
health situation. Patients were satisfied with the biomedical services
rendered by the healthcare personnel, whereas their psychological
and social needs were not attended to. Effective procedural treatment
model, a holistic and multidimensional approach to the treatment of
heart disease patients was proposed.
Abstract: Students in high education are presented with new terms and concepts in nearly every lecture they attend. Many of them prefer Web-based self-tests for evaluation of their concepts understanding since they can use those tests independently of tutors- working hours and thus avoid the necessity of being in a particular place at a particular time. There is a large number of multiple-choice tests in almost every subject designed to contribute to higher level learning or discover misconceptions. Every single test provides immediate feedback to a student about the outcome of that test. In some cases a supporting system displays an overall score in case a test is taken several times by a student. What we still find missing is how to secure delivering of personalized feedback to a user while taking into consideration the user-s progress. The present work is motivated to throw some light on that question.
Abstract: Control of complex systems is one of important files in complex systems, that not only relies on the essence of complex systems which is denoted by the core concept – emergence, but also embodies the elementary concept in control theory. Aiming at giving a clear and self-contained description of emergence, the paper introduces a formal way to completely describe the formation and dynamics of emergence in complex systems. Consequently, this paper indicates the Emergence-Oriented Control methodology that contains three kinds of basic control schemes: the direct control, the system re-structuring and the system calibration. As a universal ontology, the Emergence-Oriented Control provides a powerful tool for identifying and resolving control problems in specific systems.