Abstract: The current study aims at investigating the
relationship between the learners- integrative and instrumental
motivation and English proficiency among Iranian EFL learners. The
participants in this study consisted of 128 undergraduate university
students including 64 males and 64 females, majoring in English as a
foreign language, from Shiraz Azad University. Two research
instruments were used to gather the needed data for this study: 1)
Language Proficiency Test. 2) A scale on motivation which
determines the type of the EFL learners- motivation. Correlatin
coefficient and t-test were used to analyze the collected data and the
main result was found as follows: There is a significant relationship
between the integrative motivation and instrumental motivation with
English proficiency among EFL learners of Shiraz Azad University.
Abstract: This research is intended to develop a raw material allocation model in timber processing industry in Perum Perhutani Unit I, Central Java, Indonesia. The model can be used to determine the quantity of allocation of timber between chain in the supply chain to select supplier considering factors that are log price and the distance. In determining the quantity of allocation of timber between chains in the supply chain, the model considers the optimal inventory in each chain. Whilst the optimal inventory is determined based on demand forecast, the capacity and safety stock. Problem solving allocation is conducted by developing linear programming model that aims to minimize the total cost of the purchase, transportation cost and storage costs at each chain. The results of numerical examples show that the proposed model can generate savings of the purchase cost of 20.84% and select suppliers with mileage closer.
Abstract: The present paper reports results of an experimental
program conducted to study performance of fly ash based
geopolymer pastes at elevated temperature. Three series of
geopolymer pastes differing in Na2O content (8.5%, 10% and 11.5%)
were manufactured by activating low calcium fly ash with a mixture
of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution. The paste
specimens were subjected to temperatures as high as 900oC and the
behaviour at elevated temperatures were investigated on the basis of
physical appearance, weight losses, residual strength, shrinkage
measurements and sorptivity tests at different temperatures. Scanning
electron microscopy along with EDX and XRD tests were also
conducted to examine microstructure and mineralogical changes
during the thermal exposure. Specimens which were initially grey
turned reddish accompanied by appearance of small cracks as the
temperature increased to 900oC. Loss of weight was more in
specimens manufactured with highest Na2O content. Geopolymer
paste specimen containing minimum Na2O performed better than
those with higher Na2O content in terms of residual compressive
strength.
Abstract: In contrast to existing of calculation of temperature field of a profile part a blade with convective cooling which are not taking into account multi connective in a broad sense of this term, we develop mathematical models and highly effective combination (BIEM AND FDM) numerical methods from the point of view of a realization on the PC. The theoretical substantiation of these methods is proved by the appropriate theorems.
Abstract: Two seperate experiments by barley and alfalfa were
conducted to a 2×8 factorial completely randomised design, with four
replicates. Factors were inoculation (M) with Gomus mosseae or uninoculation
(M0) and seven levels of contaminants (Co, Cd, Pb and
combinations) plus an uncontaminated control treatment (C). Heavy
metals in plant tissues and soil were quantified by Inductively
Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) (Variant-
Liberty 150AX Turbo). Phytoextraction coefficient of contaminants
calculated by concentration of heavy metals in the shoot (mgkg-1) /
concentration of heavy metals in soil (mgkg-1). In the barley, the
highest rate of phytoextraction coefficient of Pb, Cd and Co was in
M0Pb, M0PbCoCd and MCo, respectively (P
Abstract: Reinforced concrete stair slabs with mid landings i.e.
Dog-legged shaped are conventionally designed as per specifications
of standard codes of practices which guide about the effective span
according to the varying support conditions. Presently, the behavior
of such slabs has been investigated using Finite Element method. A
single flight stair slab with landings on both sides and supported at
ends on wall, and a multi flight stair slab with landings and six
different support arrangements have been analyzed. The results
obtained for stresses, strains and deflections are used to describe the
behavior of such stair slabs, including locations of critical moments
and deflections. Values of critical moments obtained by F.E. analysis
have also have been compared with that obtained from conventional
analysis. Analytical results show that the moments are also critical
near the kinks i.e. junction of mid-landing and inclined waist slab.
This change in the behavior of dog-legged stair slab may be due to
continuity of the material in transverse direction in two landings
adjoining the waist slab, hence additional stiffness achieved. This
change in the behavior is generally not taken care of in conventional
method of design.
Abstract: Although achieving zero-defect software release is
practically impossible, software industries should take maximum
care to detect defects/bugs well ahead in time allowing only bare
minimums to creep into released version. This is a clear indicator of
time playing an important role in the bug detection. In addition to
this, software quality is the major factor in software engineering
process. Moreover, early detection can be achieved only through
static code analysis as opposed to conventional testing.
BugCatcher.Net is a static analysis tool, which detects bugs in .NET®
languages through MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language)
inspection. The tool utilizes a Parser based on Finite State Automata
to carry out bug detection. After being detected, bugs need to be
corrected immediately. BugCatcher.Net facilitates correction, by
proposing a corrective solution for reported warnings/bugs to end
users with minimum side effects. Moreover, the tool is also capable
of analyzing the bug trend of a program under inspection.
Abstract: Designing modern machine tools is a complex task. A
simulation tool to aid the design work, a virtual machine, has
therefore been developed in earlier work. The virtual machine
considers the interaction between the mechanics of the machine
(including structural flexibility) and the control system. This paper
exemplifies the usefulness of the virtual machine as a tool for product
development. An optimisation study is conducted aiming at
improving the existing design of a machine tool regarding weight and
manufacturing accuracy at maintained manufacturing speed. The
problem can be categorised as constrained multidisciplinary multiobjective
multivariable optimisation. Parameters of the control and
geometric quantities of the machine are used as design variables. This
results in a mix of continuous and discrete variables and an
optimisation approach using a genetic algorithm is therefore
deployed. The accuracy objective is evaluated according to
international standards. The complete systems model shows nondeterministic
behaviour. A strategy to handle this based on statistical
analysis is suggested. The weight of the main moving parts is reduced
by more than 30 per cent and the manufacturing accuracy is
improvement by more than 60 per cent compared to the original
design, with no reduction in manufacturing speed. It is also shown
that interaction effects exist between the mechanics and the control,
i.e. this improvement would most likely not been possible with a
conventional sequential design approach within the same time, cost
and general resource frame. This indicates the potential of the virtual
machine concept for contributing to improved efficiency of both
complex products and the development process for such products.
Companies incorporating such advanced simulation tools in their
product development could thus improve its own competitiveness as
well as contribute to improved resource efficiency of society at large.
Abstract: This paper uses the radial basis function neural
network (RBFNN) for system identification of nonlinear systems.
Five nonlinear systems are used to examine the activity of RBFNN in
system modeling of nonlinear systems; the five nonlinear systems are
dual tank system, single tank system, DC motor system, and two
academic models. The feed forward method is considered in this
work for modelling the non-linear dynamic models, where the KMeans
clustering algorithm used in this paper to select the centers of
radial basis function network, because it is reliable, offers fast
convergence and can handle large data sets. The least mean square
method is used to adjust the weights to the output layer, and
Euclidean distance method used to measure the width of the Gaussian
function.
Abstract: The purposes of this research were 1) to investigate
behavior of media exposure and participation in environmental
activities of King Mongkut-s University of Technology Thonburi
(KMUTT) dormitory students, 2) to compare the correlation between
faculties and participation in environmental activities of KMUTT
dormitory students, and 3) to compare the correlation between media
exposure and participation in environmental activities of KMUTT
dormitory students. The tool used for collecting data was
questionnaire. The research findings revealed that dormitory students
were mostly exposed to the environmental media via public relations
boards for general media and KMUTT dormitory media. Dormitory
students were daily exposed to media via websites on the internet and
weekly for other media. Dormitory students participation in the
environmental activities was at high level (x = 3.65) on an
individual basis and was at medium level (x = 2.76) on a collective
basis. Faculties did not correlate with the participation in
environmental activities of dormitory students at the .01 statistical
level and media exposure via various media correlated with
participation in environmental activities of dormitory students at the
.01 statistical level.
Abstract: Biochemical investigations were carried out to assess
the effect of different exposure regimes of Kazakhstan crude oil
(KCO) on hepatic antioxidant defense system in albino rats.
Contaminants were delivered under two different dosing regimes,
with all treatments receiving the same total contaminant load by the
end of the exposure period. Rats in regime A injected with KCO
once at a dose of 6 ml/kg bw while in regime B injected multiply at a
dose of 1.5 ml/kg bw on day 1, 3, 5 and 8. Antioxidant biomarkers
were measured in hepatic tissue after 1, 3, 5 and 8 days. Significant
induction was observed in serum aminotransferases (ALT, AST)
(p
Abstract: This paper demonstrates the feasibility of replacing
the metal coil spring with the composite coil spring. Three different
types of springs were made using glass fiber, carbon fiber and
combination of glass fiber and carbon fiber. The objective of the
study is to reduce the weight of the spring. According to the
experimental results the spring rate of the carbon fiber spring is
34% more than the glass fiber spring and 45% more than the glass
fiber/carbon fiber spring. The weight of the carbon fiber spring is
18% less than the glass fiber spring, 15% less than the Glass
fiber/carbon fiber spring and 80% less than the steel spring.
Abstract: In this paper, the strength of a stabilizer is determined when the static and fatigue multiaxial loading are applied. Stabilizer is a part of suspension system in the heavy truck for stabilizing the cabin against the vibration of the road which composes of a thin-walled tube joined to a forge component by fillet weld. The component is loaded by non proportional random sequence of torsion and bending. Residual stress of welding process is considered here for static loading. This static loading with road irregularities are applied in this study as fatigue case that can affected in the fillet welded area of this part. The stresses in the welded structure are calculated using FEA. In addition, the fatigue with multi axial loading in the fillet weld is also investigated and the critical zone of the stabilizer is specified and presented by graphs. Residual stresses that have been resulted by the thermal forces are considered in FEA. Force increasing is the element of finding the critical point of the component.
Abstract: In this paper, the processing of sonar signals has been
carried out using Minimal Resource Allocation Network (MRAN)
and a Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) in differentiation of
commonly encountered features in indoor environments. The
stability-plasticity behaviors of both networks have been
investigated. The experimental result shows that MRAN possesses
lower network complexity but experiences higher plasticity than
PNN. An enhanced version called parallel MRAN (pMRAN) is
proposed to solve this problem and is proven to be stable in
prediction and also outperformed the original MRAN.
Abstract: Shipping comb is mounted on Head Stack Assembly
(HSA) to prevent collision of the heads, maintain the gap between
suspensions and protect HSA tips from unintentional contact
damaged in the manufacturing process. Failure analysis of shipping
comb in hard disk drive production processes is proposed .Field
observations were performed to determine the fatal areas on shipping
comb and their failure fraction. Root cause failure analysis (RCFA) is
applied to specify the failure causes subjected to various loading
conditions. For reliability improvement, failure mode and effects
analysis (FMEA) procedure to evaluate the risk priority is performed.
Consequently, the more suitable information design criterions were
obtained.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to survey the effect of
organizational communication system on the conflict in physical
education offices of Isfahan province. The research methodology of
this research was a descriptive study. All employees working in
physical education offices of Isfahan province were included in the
sample for this study (N= 236). Researcher made questionnaire and
demographic questionnaire were used as investigation instruments.
Based on the result of chi square test, there is significant difference
between organizational communication system and interpersonal
conflict. The most of participants evaluate communication in an
informal way and pointed out that the communication channels were
not open. Based on the result of binomial test, interpersonal conflict
exists in physical education offices of Isfahan.
Abstract: Artemia is one of the most conspicuous invertebrates
associated with aquaculture. It can be considered as a model
organism, offering numerous advantages for comprehensive and
multidisciplinary studies using morphologic or molecular methods.
Since DNA extraction is an important step of any molecular
experiment, a new and a rapid method of DNA extraction from adult
Artemia was described in this study. Besides, the efficiency of this
technique was compared with two widely used alternative techniques,
namely Chelex® 100 resin and SDS-chloroform methods. Data
analysis revealed that the new method is the easiest and the most cost
effective method among the other methods which allows a quick and
efficient extraction of DNA from the adult animal.
Abstract: In the present paper, we-ll explore how social media tools provide an opportunity for new developments of the e-Learning in the context of managing personal knowledge. There will be a discussion how social media tools provide a possibility for helping knowledge workersand students to gather, organize and manage their personal information as a part of the e-learning process. At the centre of this social software driven approach to e-learning environments are the challenges of personalization and collaboration. We-ll share concepts of how organizations are using social media for e-Learning and believe that integration of these tools into traditional e-Learning is probably not a choice, but inevitability. Students- Survey of use of web technologies and social networking tools is presented. Newly developed framework for semantic blogging capable of organizing results relevant to user requirements is implemented at Varna Free University (VFU) to provide more effective navigation and search.
Abstract: Dengue, a disease found in most tropical and
subtropical areas of the world. It has become the most common
arboviral disease of humans. This disease is caused by any of four
serotypes of dengue virus (DEN1-DEN4). In many endemic
countries, the average age of getting dengue infection is shifting
upwards, dengue in pregnancy and infancy are likely to be
encountered more frequently. The dynamics of the disease is studied
by a compartmental model involving ordinary differential equations
for the pregnant, infant human and the vector populations. The
stability of each equilibrium point is given. The epidemic dynamic is
discussed. Moreover, the numerical results are shown for difference
values of dengue antibody.
Abstract: In this note, we discuss the convergence behavior of a modified inexact Uzawa algorithm for solving generalized saddle point problems, which is an extension of the result obtained in a recent paper [Z.H. Cao, Fast Uzawa algorithm for generalized saddle point problems, Appl. Numer. Math., 46 (2003) 157-171].