Abstract: The research was conducted in order to determine the
organizational socialization levels of nurses working in hospitals in
the form of a descriptive study.
The research population was composed of nurses employed in
public and private sector hospitals in the province of Konya with 0-3
years of professional experience in the hospitals (N=1200); and the
sample was composed of 495 nurses that accepted to take part in the
study voluntarily. Statistical evaluation of data was conducted in
SPSS.16 software.
The results of the study revealed that the total score taken by
nurses at the organizational socialization scale was 262.95; and this
was close to the maximum score. Particularly the departmental
socialization sub-dimension proved to be higher in comparison to the
other two dimensions (organization socialization and task
socialization). Statistically meaningful differences were found in the
levels of organization socialization in relation to the status of
organizational orientation training, level of education and age group.
Abstract: More than 3000 plants of notable phyto-therapeutic
value grow in South Africa; these include Cissampelos capensis,
commonly known in Afrikaans as dawidjie or dawidjiewortel. C.
capensis is the most significant and popular medicinal plant used by
the Khoisan as well as other rural groups in the Western region of
South Africa. Its rhizomes are traditionally used to treat male fertility
problems. Yet, no studies have investigated the effects of this plant or
its extracts on human spermatozoa. Therefore, this study aimed at
investigating the effects of C. capensis rhizome extract (CRE)
fractions on ejaculated human spermatozoa in vitro. Spermatozoa
from a total of 77 semen samples were washed with human tubular
fluid medium supplemented with bovine serum albumin (HTF-BSA)
and incubated for 2 hours with 20 μg/ml progesterone (P4) followed
by incubation with different concentrations (0, 0.05, 0.5, 5, 50, 200
μg/ml) of fractionated CRE (F1=0% MeOH, F2=30% MeOH,
F3=60% MeOH and F4=100% MeOH) for 1.5 hours at 37°C. A
sample without addition of CRE fractions served as control. Samples
were analyzed for sperm motility, reactive oxygen species (ROS),
DNA-fragmentation, acrosome reaction and capacitation. Results
showed that F1 resulted in significantly higher values for ROS,
capacitation and hyper-activation compared to F2, F3, and F4 with
P4-stimulated samples generally having higher values. No significant
effect was found for the other parameters. In conclusion, alkaloids
present in F1 of CRE appear to have triggered sperm intrinsic ROS
production leading to sperm capacitation and acrosome reaction
induced by P4.
Abstract: Steady three-dimensional and two free surface waves
generated by moving bodies are presented, the flow problem to be
simulated is rich in complexity and poses many modeling challenges
because of the existence of breaking waves around the ship hull, and
because of the interaction of the two-phase flow with the turbulent
boundary layer. The results of several simulations are reported. The
first study was performed for NACA0012 of hydrofoil with different
meshes, this section is analyzed at h/c= 1, 0345 for 2D. In the second
simulation a mathematically defined Wigley hull form is used to
investigate the application of a commercial CFD code in prediction of
the total resistance and its components from tangential and normal
forces on the hull wetted surface. The computed resistance and wave
profiles are used to estimate the coefficient of the total resistance for
Wigley hull advancing in calm water under steady conditions. The
commercial CFD software FLUENT version 12 is used for the
computations in the present study. The calculated grid is established
using the code computer GAMBIT 2.3.26. The shear stress k-ωSST
model is used for turbulence modeling and the volume of fluid
technique is employed to simulate the free-surface motion. The
second order upwind scheme is used for discretizing the convection
terms in the momentum transport equations, the Modified HRIC
scheme for VOF discretization. The results obtained compare well
with the experimental data.
Abstract: Copper (I) oxide microparticles with the morphology
of cubic and hollow sphere were synthesized with the assistance of
surfactant as the shape controller. Both particles were then subjected
to study the catalytic activity and observed the results of shape effects
of catalysts on rate of catalytic reaction. The decolorizing reaction of
crystal violet and sodium hydroxide was chosen and measured the
decreasing of reactant with respect to times using spectrophotometer.
The result revealed that morphology of crystal had no effect on the
catalytic activity for crystal violet reaction but contributed to total
surface area predominantly.
Abstract: This paper introduces a video sharing platform based
on WiFi, which consists of camera, mobile phone and PC server. This
platform can receive wireless signal from the camera and show the live
video on the mobile phone captured by camera. In addition, it is able to
send commands to camera and control the camera’s holder to rotate.
The platform can be applied to interactive teaching and dangerous
area’s monitoring and so on. Testing results show that the platform can
share the live video of mobile phone. Furthermore, if the system’s PC
server and the camera and many mobile phones are connected
together, it can transfer photos concurrently.
Abstract: Nowadays, the rapid development of CAD systems’
programming environments results in the creation of multiple
downstream applications, which are developed and becoming
increasingly available. CAD based manufacturing simulations is
gradually following the same trend. Drilling is the most popular holemaking
process used in a variety of industries. A specially built piece
of software that deals with the drilling kinematics is presented. The
cutting forces are calculated based on the tool geometry, the cutting
conditions and the tool/work-piece materials. The results are verified
by experimental work. Finally, the response surface methodology
(RSM) is applied and mathematical models of the total thrust force
and the thrust force developed because of the main cutting edges are
proposed.
Abstract: This paper addresses a cutting edge method of
business demand forecasting, based on an empirical probability
function when the historical behavior of the data is random.
Additionally, it presents error determination based on the numerical
method technique ‘propagation of errors.’ The methodology was
conducted characterization and process diagnostics demand planning
as part of the production management, then new ways to predict its
value through techniques of probability and to calculate their mistake
investigated, it was tools used numerical methods. All this based on
the behavior of the data. This analysis was determined considering
the specific business circumstances of a company in the sector of
communications, located in the city of Bogota, Colombia. In
conclusion, using this application it was possible to obtain the
adequate stock of the products required by the company to provide its
services, helping the company reduce its service time, increase the
client satisfaction rate, reduce stock which has not been in rotation
for a long time, code its inventory, and plan reorder points for the
replenishment of stock.
Abstract: Methicillin/multiple-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) are infectious bacteria that are resistant to common
antibiotics. A previous in silico study in our group has identified a
hypothetical protein SAV1226 as one of the potential drug targets. In
this study, we reported the bioinformatics characterization, as well as
cloning, expression, purification and kinetic assays of hypothetical
protein SAV1226 from methicillin/vancomycin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus Mu50 strain. MALDI-TOF/MS analysis
revealed a low degree of structural similarity with known proteins.
Kinetic assays demonstrated that hypothetical protein SAV1226 is
neither a domain of an ATP dependent dihydroxyacetone kinase nor
of a phosphotransferase system (PTS) dihydroxyacetone kinase,
suggesting that the function of hypothetical protein SAV1226 might
be misannotated on public databases such as UniProt and
InterProScan 5.
Abstract: When neck pain is associated with pain, numbness, or
weakness in the arm, shoulder, or hand, further investigation is
needed as these are symptoms indicating pressure on one or more
nerve roots. Evaluation necessitates a neurologic examination and
imaging using an MRI/CT scan. A degenerating disc loses some
thickness and is less flexible, causing inter-vertebrae space to narrow.
A radiologist diagnoses an Intervertebral Disc Degeneration (IDD) by
localizing every inter-vertebral disc and identifying the pathology in
a disc based on its geometry and appearance. Accurate localizing is
necessary to diagnose IDD pathology. But, the underlying image
signal is ambiguous: a disc’s intensity overlaps the spinal nerve
fibres. Even the structure changes from case to case, with possible
spinal column bending (scoliosis). The inter-vertebral disc
pathology’s quantitative assessment needs accurate localization of the
cervical region discs. In this work, the efficacy of multilevel set
segmentation model, to segment cervical discs is investigated. The
segmented images are annotated using a simple distance matrix.
Abstract: Steady three-dimensional and two free surface waves
generated by moving bodies are presented, the flow problem to be
simulated is rich in complexity and poses many modeling challenges
because of the existence of breaking waves around the ship hull, and
because of the interaction of the two-phase flow with the turbulent
boundary layer. The results of several simulations are reported. The
first study was performed for NACA0012 of hydrofoil with different
meshes, this section is analyzed at h/c= 1, 0345 for 2D. In the second
simulation a mathematically defined Wigley hull form is used to
investigate the application of a commercial CFD code in prediction of
the total resistance and its components from tangential and normal
forces on the hull wetted surface. The computed resistance and wave
profiles are used to estimate the coefficient of the total resistance for
Wigley hull advancing in calm water under steady conditions. The
commercial CFD software FLUENT version 12 is used for the
computations in the present study. The calculated grid is established
using the code computer GAMBIT 2.3.26. The shear stress k-ωSST
model is used for turbulence modeling and the volume of fluid
technique is employed to simulate the free-surface motion. The
second order upwind scheme is used for discretizing the convection
terms in the momentum transport equations, the Modified HRIC
scheme for VOF discretization. The results obtained compare well
with the experimental data.
Abstract: The Economic Lot Scheduling Problem (ELSP) is a
valuable mathematical model that can support decision-makers to
make scheduling decisions. The basic period approach is effective for
solving the ELSP. The assumption for applying the basic period
approach is that a product must use its maximum production rate to be
produced. However, a product can lower its production rate to reduce
the average total cost when a facility has extra idle time. The past
researches discussed how a product adjusts its production rate under
the common cycle approach. To the best of our knowledge, no studies
have addressed how a product lowers its production rate under the
basic period approach. This research is the first paper to discuss this
topic. The research develops a simple fixed rate approach that adjusts
the production rate of a product under the basic period approach to
solve the ELSP. Our numerical example shows our approach can find a
better solution than the traditional basic period approach. Our
mathematical model that applies the fixed rate approach under the
basic period approach can serve as a reference for other related
researches.
Abstract: Total Quality Management (TQM) is a managerial
approach that improves the competitiveness of the industry,
meanwhile Information technology (IT) was introduced with TQM
for handling the technical issues which is supported by quality
experts for fulfilling the customers’ requirement. Present paper aims
to utilise AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) methodology to
priorities and rank the hierarchy levels of TQM enablers and IT
resource together for its successful implementation in the Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. A total of 17 TQM
enablers (nine) and IT resources (eight) were identified and
partitioned into 3 categories and were prioritised by AHP approach.
The finding indicates that the 17 sub-criteria can be grouped into
three main categories namely organizing, tools and techniques, and
culture and people. Further, out of 17 sub-criteria, three sub-criteria:
top management commitment and support, total employee
involvement, and continuous improvement got highest priority
whereas three sub-criteria such as structural equation modelling,
culture change, and customer satisfaction got lowest priority. The
result suggests a hierarchy model for ICT industry to prioritise the
enablers and resources as well as to improve the TQM and IT
performance in the ICT industry. This paper has some managerial
implication which suggests the managers of ICT industry to
implement TQM and IT together in their organizations to get
maximum benefits and how to utilize available resources. At the end,
conclusions, limitation, future scope of the study are presented.
Abstract: A novel design technique employing CMOS Current
Feedback Operational Amplifier (CFOA) is presented. The feature of
consumption very low power in designing pseudo-OTA is used to
decreasing the total power consumption of the proposed CFOA. This
design approach applies pseudo-OTA as input stage cascaded with
buffer stage. Moreover, the DC input offset voltage and harmonic
distortion (HD) of the proposed CFOA are very low values compared
with the conventional CMOS CFOA due to the symmetrical input
stage. P-Spice simulation results are obtained using 0.18μm MIETEC
CMOS process parameters and supply voltage of ±1.2V, 50μA
biasing current. The p-spice simulation shows excellent improvement
of the proposed CFOA over existing CMOS CFOA. Some of these
performance parameters, for example, are DC gain of 62. dB, openloop
gain bandwidth product of 108 MHz, slew rate (SR+) of
+71.2V/μS, THD of -63dB and DC consumption power (PC) of
2mW.
Abstract: Atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions are considered
as the greatest environmental challenge the world is facing today.
The tasks to control the emissions include the recovery of CO2 from
flue gas. This concern has been improved due to recent advances in
materials process engineering resulting in the development of
inorganic gas separation membranes with excellent thermal and
mechanical stability required for most gas separations. This paper,
therefore, evaluates the performance of a highly selective inorganic
membrane for CO2 recovery applications. Analysis of results
obtained is in agreement with experimental literature data. Further
results show the prediction performance of the membranes for gas
separation and the future direction of research. The materials
selection and the membrane preparation techniques are discussed.
Method of improving the interface defects in the membrane and its
effect on the separation performance has also been reviewed and in
addition advances to totally exploit the potential usage of this
innovative membrane.
Abstract: WO3/SiO2 catalysts were modified by an ion exchange
method with sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide solution. The
performance of the modified catalysts was tested in the metathesis of
ethylene and trans-2-butene to propylene. During ion exchange,
sodium and potassium ions played different roles. Sodium modified
catalysts revealed constant trans-2-butene conversion and propylene
selectivity when the concentrations of sodium in the solution were
varied. In contrast, potassium modified catalysts showed reduction of
the conversion and increase of the selectivity. From these results,
potassium hydroxide may affect the transformation of tungsten oxide
active species, resulting in the decrease in conversion whereas
sodium hydroxide did not. Moreover, the modification of catalysts by
this method improved the catalyst stability by lowering the amount of
coke deposited on the catalyst surface.
Abstract: For the music composer Myriam Marbe the musical
time and memory represent 2 (complementary) phenomena with
conclusive impact on the settlement of new musical ontologies.
Summarizing the most important achievements of the contemporary
techniques of composition, her vision on the microform presented in
The Concert for Daniel Kientzy, saxophone and orchestra transcends
the linear and unidirectional time in favour of a flexible, multivectorial
speech with spiral developments, where the sound substance
is auto(re)generated by analogy with the fundamental processes of
the memory. The conceptual model is of an archetypal essence, the
music composer being concerned with identifying the mechanisms of
the creation process, especially of those specific to the collective
creation (of oral tradition). Hence the spontaneity of expression,
improvisation tint, free rhythm, micro-interval intonation, coloristictimbral
universe dominated by multiphonics and unique sound
effects, hence the atmosphere of ritual, however purged by the
primary connotations and reprojected into a wonderful spectacular
space. The Concert is a work of artistic maturity and enforces respect,
among others, by the timbral diversity of the three species of
saxophone required by the music composer (baritone, sopranino and
alt), in Part III Daniel Kientzy shows the performance of playing two
saxophones concomitantly. The score of the music composer Myriam
Marbe contains a deeply spiritualized music, full or archetypal
symbols, a music whose drama suggests a real cinematographic
movement.
Abstract: New design of three dimensional (3D) flywheel system
based on gimbal and gyro mechanics is proposed. The 3D flywheel
device utilizes the rotational motion of three spherical shells and the
conservation of angular momentum to achieve planar locomotion.
Actuators mounted to the ring-shape frames are installed within the
system to drive the spherical shells to rotate, for the purpose of steering
and stabilization. Similar to the design of 2D flywheel system, it is
expected that the spherical shells may function like a “flyball” to store
and supply mechanical energy; additionally, in comparison with
typical single-wheel and spherical robots, the 3D flywheel can be used
for developing omnidirectional robotic systems with better mobility.
The Lagrangian method is applied to derive the equation of motion of
the 3D flywheel system, and simulation studies are presented to verify
the proposed design.
Abstract: Potassium borates, which are widely used in welding
and metal refining industry, as a lubricating oil additive, cement
additive, fiberglass additive and insulation compound, are one of the
important groups of borate minerals. In this study the production of a
potassium borate mineral via hydrothermal method is aimed. The
potassium source of potassium nitrate (KNO3) was used along with a
sodium source of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and boron source of
boric acid (H3BO3). The constant parameters of reaction temperature
and reaction time were determined as 80°C and 1 h, respectively. The
molar ratios of 1:1:3 (as KNO3:NaOH:H3BO3), 1:1:4, 1:1:5, 1:1:6
and 1:1:7 were used. Following the synthesis the identifications of
the produced products were conducted by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD),
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman
Spectroscopy. The results of the experiments and analysis showed in
the ratio of 1:1:6, the Santite mineral with powder diffraction file
number (pdf no.) of 01-072-1688, which is known as potassium
pentaborate (KB5O8·4H2O) was synthesized as best.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of an experimental
study undertaken to evaluate the local bond stress-slip response of
short embedment of reinforcing bars in normal concrete (NC) and
high performance fiber reinforced cement composites (HPFRCC)
blocks. Long embedment was investigated as well to gain insights on
the distribution of strain, slip, bar stress and bond stress along the bar
especially in post-yield range. A total of 12 specimens were tested,
by means of pull-out of the reinforcing bars from concrete blocks. It
was found that the enhancement of local bond strength can be
reached up to 50% and ductility of the bond behavior was improved
significantly if HPFRCC is used. Also, under a constant strain at
loaded end, HPFRCC has delayed yielding of bars at other location
from the loaded end. Hence, the reduction of bond stress was slower
for HPFRCC in comparison with NC. Due to the same reason, the
total slips at loaded end for HPFRCC was smaller than NC as
expected. Test results indicated that HPFRCC has better bond slip
behavior which makes it a suitable material to be employed in
anchorage zone such as beam-column joints.
Abstract: In this paper, a new concept of closed-loop design for a
product is presented. The closed-loop design model is developed by
integrating forward design and reverse design. Based on this new
concept, a closed-loop design model for sustainable manufacturing by
integrated evaluation of forward design, reverse design, and green
manufacturing using a fuzzy analytic network process is developed. In
the design stage of a product, with a given product requirement and
objective, there can be different ways to design the detailed
components and specifications. Therefore, there can be different
design cases to achieve the same product requirement and objective.
Subsequently, in the design evaluation stage, it is required to analyze
and evaluate the different design cases. The purpose of this research is
to develop a model for evaluating the design cases by integrated
evaluating the criteria in forward design, reverse design, and green
manufacturing. A fuzzy analytic network process method is presented
for integrated evaluation of the criteria in the three models. The
comparison matrices for evaluating the criteria in the three groups are
established. The total relational values among the three groups
represent the total relational effects. In applications, a super matrix
model is created and the total relational values can be used to evaluate
the design cases for decision-making to select the final design case. An
example product is demonstrated in this presentation. It shows that the
model is useful for integrated evaluation of forward design, reverse
design, and green manufacturing to achieve a closed-loop design for
sustainable manufacturing objective.