Abstract: Mental health professionals views about mental illness
is an important issue which has not received enough attention. The
negative stigma associated with mental illness can have many
negative consequences. Unfortunately, health professionals working
with the mentally ill can also exhibit stigma. It has been suggested
that causal explanations or beliefs around the causes of mental illness
may influence stigma. This study aims to gain a greater insight into
stigma through examining stigma among potential mental health
professionals. Firstly, results found that potential mental health
professionals had relatively low social distance t(205) = -3.62, p
Abstract: The performance of a sucrose-based H2 production in
a completely stirred tank reactor (CSTR) was modeled by neural
network back-propagation (BP) algorithm. The H2 production was
monitored over a period of 450 days at 35±1 ºC. The proposed model
predicts H2 production rates based on hydraulic retention time
(HRT), recycle ratio, sucrose concentration and degradation, biomass
concentrations, pH, alkalinity, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP),
acids and alcohols concentrations. Artificial neural networks (ANNs)
have an ability to capture non-linear information very efficiently. In
this study, a predictive controller was proposed for management and
operation of large scale H2-fermenting systems. The relevant control
strategies can be activated by this method. BP based ANNs modeling
results was very successful and an excellent match was obtained
between the measured and the predicted rates. The efficient H2
production and system control can be provided by predictive control
method combined with the robust BP based ANN modeling tool.
Abstract: Characterization and evaluation of the activity of Vespa basalis DPP-IV, which expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda 21 cells. The expression of rDPP-IV was confirmed by SDS–PAGE, Western blot analyses, LC-MS/MS and measurement of its peptidase specificity. One-step purification by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography and the total amount of rDPP-IV recovered was approximately 6.4mg per liter from infected culture medium; an equivalent amount would be produced by 1x109 infected Sf21 insect cells. Through the affinity purification led to highly stable rDPP-IV enzyme was recovered and with significant peptidase activity. The rDPP-IV exhibited classical Michaelis–Menten kinetics, with kcat/Km in the range of 10-500 mM-1×S-1 for the five synthetic substrates and optimum substrate is Ala-Pro-pNA. As expected in inhibition assay, the enzymatic activity of rDPP-IV was significantly reduced by 80 or 60% in the presence of sitagliptin (a DPP-IV inhibitor) or PMSF (a serine protease inhibitor), but was not apparently affected by iodoacetamide (a cysteine protease inhibitor).
Abstract: This paper aims to develop a model that assists the
international retailer in selecting the country that maximizes the
degree of fit between the retailer-s goals and the country
characteristics in his initial internationalization move. A two-stage
multi criteria decision model is designed integrating the Analytic
Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Goal Programming. Ethical, cultural,
geographic and economic proximity are identified as the relevant
constructs of the internationalization decision. The constructs are
further structured into sub-factors within analytic hierarchy. The
model helps the retailer to integrate, rank and weigh a number of
hard and soft factors and prioritize the countries accordingly. The
model has been implemented on a Turkish luxury goods retailer who
was planning to internationalize. Actual entry of the specific retailer
in the selected country is a support for the model. Implementation on
a single retailer limits the generalizability of the results; however, the
emphasis of the paper is on construct identification and model
development. The paper enriches the existing literature by proposing
a hybrid multi objective decision model which introduces new soft
dimensions i.e. perceived distance, ethical proximity, humane
orientation to the decision process and facilitates effective decision
making.
Abstract: Different forms of interaction are an integral part of
modern courses. Traditional courses held on-campus might focus on
teacher-student interaction, or student-student interaction, or both.
However when these traditional on-campus courses are to be held as
distance courses there is a risk that these well-designed interactions
will be difficult or impossible to uphold. For example, studentstudent
interaction in traditional project assignments might not work
well if the students are scattered across the world. Thus, even a welldesigned
traditional on-site course cannot without modification be
turned into a distance course. Traditional on-site courses simply have
to be redesigned to become true distance courses. This paper
describes a structured approach which facilitates the redesign of a
traditional course into a distance course. The approach is based on
that the desired forms of course flexibility are identified, and
thereafter that the course activities are redesigned to facilitate
interaction in a distance course. The approach is making use of
known patterns of pedagogic interaction and existing guidelines for
distance education design. The approach is illustrated with an
example course in the field of information systems design.
Abstract: The scientific community has invested a great deal of effort in the fields of discrete wavelet transform in the last few decades. Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) associated with the vector quantization has been proved to be a very useful tool for the compression of image. However, the DWT is very computationally intensive process requiring innovative and computationally efficient method to obtain the image compression. The concurrent transformation of the image can be an important solution to this problem. This paper proposes a model of concurrent DWT for image compression. Additionally, the formal verification of the model has also been performed. Here the Symbolic Model Verifier (SMV) has been used as the formal verification tool. The system has been modeled in SMV and some properties have been verified formally.
Abstract: In recent past, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) has become the de facto industry standard for object-oriented modeling of the software systems. The syntax and semantics rich UML has encouraged industry to develop several supporting tools including those capable of generating deployable product (code) from the UML models. As a consequence, ensuring the correctness of the model/design has become challenging and extremely important task. In this paper, we present an approach for automatic verification of protocol model/design. As a case study, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) design is verified for the property, “the CALLER will not converse with the CALLEE before the connection is established between them ". The SIP is modeled using UML statechart diagrams and the desired properties are expressed in temporal logic. Our prototype verifier “UML-SMV" is used to carry out the verification. We subjected an erroneous SIP model to the UML-SMV, the verifier could successfully detect the error (in 76.26ms) and generate the error trace.
Abstract: The study investigates the causal link between trade
openness and economic growth for four South Asian countries for
period 1972-1985 and 1986-2007 to examine the scenario before and
after the implementation of SAARC. Panel cointegration and
FMOLS techniques are employed for short run and long run
estimates. In 1972-85 short run unidirectional causality from GDP to
openness is found whereas, in 1986-2007 there exists bi-directional
causality between GDP and openness. The long run elasticity
magnitude between GDP and openness contains negative sign in
1972-85 which shows that there exists long run negative relationship.
While in time period 1986-2007 the elasticity magnitude has positive
sign that indicates positive causation between GDP and openness. So
it can be concluded that after the implementation of SAARC overall
situation of selected countries got better. Also long run coefficient of
error term suggests that short term equilibrium adjustments are driven
by adjustment back to long run equilibrium.
Abstract: Prior research has examined the relationship between religiosity, religious involvement, and involvement in secular, civic organizations. However, research has not examined the influence of religious involvement on secular, non-civic organizations (i.e. work organizations). This study examines the link between religiosity, religious involvement, and the three-component model of organizational commitment. More specifically, the author hypothesizes that individuals high in religiosity (and religious involvement) will have lower affective, continuance, and normative commitment than less religious (or non-religious) individuals. In addition, it is hypothesized that this relationship is moderated by a third factor: organizational spirituality. Further, the author hypothesizes that for organizations that are spiritual the negative relationship between religiosity and job commitment will be weakened or even negated.
Abstract: Restarted GMRES methods augmented with approximate eigenvectors are widely used for solving large sparse linear systems. Recently a new scheme of augmenting with error approximations is proposed. The main aim of this paper is to develop a restarted GMRES method augmented with the combination of harmonic Ritz vectors and error approximations. We demonstrate that the resulted combination method can gain the advantages of two approaches: (i) effectively deflate the small eigenvalues in magnitude that may hamper the convergence of the method and (ii) partially recover the global optimality lost due to restarting. The effectiveness and efficiency of the new method are demonstrated through various numerical examples.
Abstract: This research attempts to study the feasibility of
augmenting an augmented reality (AR) image card on a Quick
Response (QR) code. The authors have developed a new visual tag,
which contains a QR code and an augmented AR image card. The new
visual tag has features of reading both of the revealed data of the QR
code and the instant data from the AR image card. Furthermore, a
handheld communicating device is used to read and decode the new
visual tag, and then the concealed data of the new visual tag can be
revealed and read through its visual display. In general, the QR code is
designed to store the corresponding data or, as a key, to access the
corresponding data from the server through internet. Those reveled
data from the QR code are represented in text. Normally, the AR
image card is designed to store the corresponding data in
3-Dimensional or animation/video forms. By using QR code's
property of high fault tolerant rate, the new visual tag can access those
two different types of data by using a handheld communicating device.
The new visual tag has an advantage of carrying much more data than
independent QR code or AR image card. The major findings of this
research are: 1) the most efficient area for the designed augmented AR
card augmenting on the QR code is 9% coverage area out of the total
new visual tag-s area, and 2) the best location for the augmented AR
image card augmenting on the QR code is located in the bottom-right
corner of the new visual tag.
Abstract: This analysis investigates the distortion of flow
measurement and the increase of cavitation along orifice
flowmeter. The analysis using the numerical method (CFD)
validated the distortion of flow measurement through the inlet
velocity profile considering the convergence and grid
dependency. Realizable k-e model was selected and y+ was
about 50 in this numerical analysis. This analysis also estimated
the vulnerability of cavitation effect due to inlet velocity profile.
The investigation concludes that inclined inlet velocity profile
could vary the pressure which was measured at pressure tab
near pipe wall and it led to distort the pressure values ranged
from -3.8% to 5.3% near the orifice plate and to make the
increase of cavitation. The investigation recommends that the
fully developed inlet velocity flow is beneficial to accurate flow
measurement in orifice flowmeter.
Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess unique structural,
mechanical, thermal and electronic properties, and have been
proposed to be used for applications in many fields. However, to
reach the full potential of the CNTs, many problems still need to be
solved, including the development of an easy and effective
purification procedure, since synthesized CNTs contain impurities,
such as amorphous carbon, carbon nanoparticles and metal particles.
Different purification methods yield different CNT characteristics
and may be suitable for the production of different types of CNTs. In
this study, the effect of different purification chemicals on carbon
nanotube quality was investigated. CNTs were firstly synthesized by
chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of acetylene (C2H2) on a
magnesium oxide (MgO) powder impregnated with an iron nitrate
(Fe(NO3)3·9H2O) solution. The synthesis parameters were selected
as: the synthesis temperature of 800°C, the iron content in the
precursor of 5% and the synthesis time of 30 min. The liquid phase
oxidation method was applied for the purification of the synthesized
CNT materials. Three different acid chemicals (HNO3, H2SO4, and
HCl) were used in the removal of the metal catalysts from the
synthesized CNT material to investigate the possible effects of each
acid solution to the purification step. Purification experiments were
carried out at two different temperatures (75 and 120 °C), two
different acid concentrations (3 and 6 M) and for three different time
intervals (6, 8 and 15 h). A 30% H2O2 : 3M HCl (1:1 v%) solution
was also used in the purification step to remove both the metal
catalysts and the amorphous carbon. The purifications using this
solution were performed at the temperature of 75°C for 8 hours.
Purification efficiencies at different conditions were evaluated by
thermogravimetric analysis. Thermal and electrical properties of
CNTs were also determined. It was found that the obtained electrical
conductivity values for the carbon nanotubes were typical for organic
semiconductor materials and thermal stabilities were changed
depending on the purification chemicals.
Abstract: Understanding of how and where NOx formation
occurs in industrial burner is very important for efficient and clean
operation of utility burners. Also the importance of this problem is
mainly due to its relation to the pollutants produced by more burners
used widely of gas turbine in thermal power plants and glass and steel
industry.
In this article, a numerical model of an industrial burner operating
in MILD combustion is validated with experimental data.. Then
influence of air flow rate and air temperature on combustor
temperature profiles and NOX product are investigated. In order to
modification this study reports on the effects of fuel and air dilution
(with inert gases H2O, CO2, N2), and also influence of lean-premixed
of fuel, on the temperature profiles and NOX emission.
Conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, and
transport equations of species concentrations, turbulence, combustion
and radiation modeling in addition to NO modeling equations were
solved together to present temperature and NO distribution inside the
burner.
The results shows that dilution, cause to a reduction in value of
temperature and NOX emission, and suppresses any flame
propagation inside the furnace and made the flame inside the furnace
invisible. Dilution with H2O rather than N2 and CO2 decreases further
the value of the NOX. Also with raise of lean-premix level, local
temperature of burner and the value of NOX product are decreases
because of premixing prevents local “hot spots" within the combustor
volume that can lead to significant NOx formation. Also leanpremixing
of fuel with air cause to amount of air in reaction zone is
reach more than amount that supplied as is actually needed to burn
the fuel and this act lead to limiting NOx formation
Abstract: Design and evaluation of reciprocating compressors
should include a pulsation study. The object is to ensure that
predicted pulsation levels meet guidelines to limit vibration, shaking
forces, noise, associated pressure drops, horsepower losses and
fabrication cost and time to acceptable levels. This paper explains
procedures and recommendations to select and size pulsation
suppression devices to obtain optimum arrangement in terms of
pulsation, vibration, shaking forces, performance, reliability, safety,
operation, maintenance and commercial conditions. Model and
advanced formulations for pulsation study are presented. The effect
of the full fluid dynamic model on the prediction of pulsation waves
and resulting frequency spectrum distributions are discussed.
Advanced and optimum methods of controlling pulsations are
highlighted. Useful recommendations and guidelines for pulsation
control, piping pulsation analysis, pulsation vessel design, shaking
forces, low pressure drop orifices, pulsation study report and devices
to mitigate pulsation and shaking problems are discussed.
Abstract: Double-diffusive steady convection in a partially
porous cavity with partially permeable walls and under the combined
buoyancy effects of thermal and mass diffusion was analysed
numerically using finite volume method.
The top wall is well insulated and impermeable while the bottom
surface is partially well insulated and impermeable and partially
submitted to constant temperature T1 and concentration C1. Constant
equal temperature T2 and concentration C2 are imposed along the
vertical surfaces of the enclosure. Mass suction/injection and
injection/suction are respectively considered at the bottom of the
porous centred partition and at one of the vertical walls.
Heat and mass transfer characteristics as streamlines and average
Nusselt numbers and Sherwood numbers were discussed for different
values of buoyancy ratio, Rayleigh number, and injection/suction
coefficient.
It is especially noted that increasing the injection factor
disadvantages the exchanges in the case of the injection while the
transfer is augmented in case of suction. On the other hand, a critical
value of the buoyancy ratio was highlighted for which heat and mass
transfers are minimized.
Abstract: In order to study floristic and molecular classification
of common wild wheat (Triticum boeoticum Boiss.), an analysis was
conducted on populations of the Triticum boeoticum collected from
different regions of Iran. Considering all floristic compositions of
habitats, six floristic groups (syntaxa) within the populations were
identified. A high level of variation of T. boeoticum also detected
using SSR markers. Our results showed that molecular method
confirmed the grouping of floristic method. In other word, the results
from our study indicate that floristic classification are still useful,
efficient, and economic tools for characterizing the amount and
distribution of genetic variation in natural populations of T.
boeoticum. Nevertheless, molecular markers appear as useful and
complementary techniques for identification and for evaluation of
genetic diversity in studied populations.
Abstract: Every 2-3 years the influenza B virus serves
epidemics. Neuraminidase (NA) is an important target for influenza
drug design. Although, oseltamivir, an oral neuraminidase drug, has
been shown good inhibitory efficiency against wild-type of influenza
B virus, the lower susceptibility to the R152K mutation has been
reported. Better understanding of oseltamivir efficiency and
resistance toward the influenza B NA wild-type and R152K mutant,
respectively, could be useful for rational drug design. Here, two
complex systems of wild-type and R152K NAs with oseltamivir
bound were studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.
Based on 5-ns MD simulation, the loss of notable hydrogen bond and
decrease in per-residue decomposition energy from the mutated
residue K152 contributed to drug compared to those of R152 in wildtype
were found to be a primary source of high-level of oseltamivir
resistance due to the R152K mutation.
Abstract: This paper describes an ongoing study into the quality of service provided by the Irish Revenue Commisioners- online tax filing and collection system. The Irish Revenue On-Line Service (ROS) site has won several awards. In this study, a version of the widely use SERVQUAL measuring instrument, adapted for use with online services, has been modified for the specific case of ROS. In this paper, the theory behind this instrument is set out, the particular problems of evaluating revenue collecting online are examined and the rationale for this approach is explained.
Abstract: In this paper we present a novel technique for data
hiding in binary document images. We use the concept of entropy in
order to identify document specific least distortive areas throughout
the binary document image. The document image is treated as any
other image and the proposed method utilizes the standard document
characteristics for the embedding process. Proposed method
minimizes perceptual distortion due to embedding and allows
watermark extraction without the requirement of any side information
at the decoder end.