Abstract: This research sought to discover the forms of
promotion and dissemination of traditional local wisdom that are
used to create occupations among the elderly at Noanmueng
Community, Muang Sub-District, Baan Doong District, Udornthani
Province. The criteria used to select the research sample group were:
having a role involved in the promotion and dissemination of
traditional local wisdom to create occupations among the elderly;
being an experienced person who the residents of Noanmueng
Community find trustworthy; and having lived in Noanmueng
Community for a long time so as to be able to see the development
and change that occurs. A total of 16 persons were thus selected. Data
was gathered through a qualitative study, using semi-structured indepth
interviews. The collected data was then summarized and
discussed according to the research objectives. Finally, the data was
presented in narrative format. Results found that the identifying
traditional local wisdom of the community (which grew from the
residents’ experience and beneficial usage in daily life, passed down
from generation to generation) was the weaving of cloth and
basketry. As for the manner of promotion and dissemination of
traditional local wisdom, these skills were passed down through
teaching by example to family members, relatives and others in the
community. This was largely the initiative of the elders or elderly
members of the community. In order for the promotion and
dissemination of traditional local wisdom to create occupations
among the elderly, the traditional local wisdom should be supported
in every way through participation of the community members. For
example, establish a museum of traditional local wisdom for the
collection of traditional local wisdom in various fields, both from the
past and present innovations. This would be a source of pride for the
community, simultaneously helping traditional local wisdom to
become widely known and to create income for the community’s
elderly. Additional ways include organizing exhibitions of products
made by traditional local wisdom, finding both domestic and
international markets, as well as building both domestic and
international networks aiming to find opportunities to market
products made by traditional local wisdom.
Abstract: In this paper an effective approach for segmenting
human skin regions in images taken at different environment is
proposed. The proposed method uses a color distance map that is
flexible enough to reliably detect the skin regions even if the
illumination conditions of the image vary. Local image conditions is
also focused, which help the technique to adaptively detect differently
illuminated skin regions of an image. Moreover, usage of local
information also helps the skin detection process to get rid of picking
up much noisy pixels.
Abstract: The objectives of this research were 1) to study the
opinions of newspaper journalists about their trustworthiness in the
National Press Council of Thailand (NPCT) and the NPCT-s success
in regulating the professional ethics; and 2) to study the differences
among mean vectors of the variables of trustworthiness in the NPCT
and opinions on the NPCT-s success in regulating professional ethics
among samples working at different work positions and from
different affiliation of newspaper organizations. The results showed
that 1) Interaction effects between the variables of work positions and
affiliation were not statistically significant at the confidence level of
0.05. 2) There was a statistically significant difference (p
Abstract: Web usage mining has become a popular research
area, as a huge amount of data is available online. These data can be
used for several purposes, such as web personalization, web structure
enhancement, web navigation prediction etc. However, the raw log
files are not directly usable; they have to be preprocessed in order to
transform them into a suitable format for different data mining tasks.
One of the key issues in the preprocessing phase is to identify web
users. Identifying users based on web log files is not a
straightforward problem, thus various methods have been developed.
There are several difficulties that have to be overcome, such as client
side caching, changing and shared IP addresses and so on. This paper
presents three different methods for identifying web users. Two of
them are the most commonly used methods in web log mining
systems, whereas the third on is our novel approach that uses a
complex cookie-based method to identify web users. Furthermore we
also take steps towards identifying the individuals behind the
impersonal web users. To demonstrate the efficiency of the new
method we developed an implementation called Web Activity
Tracking (WAT) system that aims at a more precise distinction of
web users based on log data. We present some statistical analysis
created by the WAT on real data about the behavior of the Hungarian
web users and a comprehensive analysis and comparison of the three
methods
Abstract: The microbiological and physicochemical
characteristics of wetland soils in Eket Local Government Area were
studied between May 2001 and June 2003. Total heterotrophic
bacterial counts (THBC), total fungal counts (TFC), and total
actinomycetes counts (TAC) were determined from soil samples
taken from four locations at two depths in the wet and dry seasons.
Microbial isolates were characterized and identified. Particle size and
chemical parameters were also determined using standard methods.
THBC ranged from 5.2 (+0.17) x106 to 1.7 (+0.18) x107 cfu/g and
from 2.4 (+0.02) x106 to 1.4 (+0.04) x107cfu/g in the wet and dry
seasons, respectively. TFC ranged from 1.8 (+0.03) x106 to 6.6 (+
0.18) x106 cfu/g and from 1.0 (+0.04) x106 to 4.2 (+ 0.01) x106 cfu/g
in the wet and dry seasons, respectively .TAC ranged from 1.2
(+0.53) x106 to 6.0 (+0.05) x106 cfu/g and from 0.6 (+0.01) x106 to
3.2 (+ 0.12) x106 cfu/g in the wet and dry season, respectively.
Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Beijerinckja,
Enterobacter, Micrococcus, Flavobacterium, Serratia, Enterococcus,
and Pseudomonas species were predominant bacteria while
Aspergillus, Fusarium, Mucor, Penicillium, and Rhizopus were the
dominant fungal genera isolated. Streptomyces and Norcadia were
the actinomycetes genera isolated. The particle size analysis showed
high sand fraction but low silt and clay. The pH and % organic
matter were generally acidic and low, respectively at all locations.
Calcium dominated the exchangeable bases with low electrical
conductivity and micronutrients. These results provide the baseline
data of Eket wetland soils for its management for sustainable
agriculture.
Abstract: ISO 9000 is the most popular and widely adopted meta-standard for quality and operational improvements. However, only limited empirical research has been conducted to examine the impact of ISO 9000 on operational performance based on objective and longitudinal data. To reveal any causal relationship between the adoption of ISO 9000 and operational performance, we examined the timing and magnitude of change in time-based performance as a result of ISO 9000 adoption. We analyzed the changes in operating cycle, inventory days, and account receivable days prior and after the implementation of ISO 9000 in 695 publicly listed manufacturing firms. We found that ISO 9000 certified firms shortened their operating cycle time by 5.28 days one year after the implementation of ISO 9000. In the long-run (3 years after certification), certified firms showed continuous improvement in time-based efficiency, and experienced a shorter operating cycle time of 11 days than that of non-certified firms. There was an average of 6.5% improvement in operating cycle time for ISO 9000 certified firms. Both inventory days and account receivable days showed similar significant improvements after the implementation of ISO 9000, too.
Abstract: Knowledge management is a process taking any steps
that needed to get the most out of available knowledge resources.
KM involved several steps; capturing the knowledge discovering
new knowledge, sharing the knowledge and applied the knowledge in
the decision making process. In applying the knowledge, it is not
necessary for the individual that use the knowledge to comprehend it
as long as the available knowledge is used in guiding the decision
making and actions. When an expert is called and he provides stepby-
step procedure on how to solve the problems to the caller, the
expert is transferring the knowledge or giving direction to the caller.
And the caller is 'applying' the knowledge by following the
instructions given by the expert. An appropriate mechanism is
needed to ensure effective knowledge transfer which in this case is
by telephone or email. The problem with email and telephone is that
the knowledge is not fully circulated and disseminated to all users. In
this paper, with related experience of local university Help Desk, it is
proposed the usage of Information Technology (IT)to effectively
support the knowledge transfer in the organization. The issues
covered include the existing knowledge, the related works, the
methodology used in defining the knowledge management
requirements as well the overview of the prototype.
Abstract: In seismic survey, the information regarding the
velocity of compression wave (Vp) as well as shear wave (Vs) are
very useful especially during the seismic interpretation. Previous
studies showed that both Vp and Vs determined by above methods
are totally different with respect to each other but offered good
approximation. In this study, both Vp and Vs of consolidated granite
rock were studied by using ultrasonic testing method and seismic
refraction method. In ultrasonic testing, two different condition of
rock are used which is dry and wet. The differences between Vp and
Vs getting by using ultrasonic testing and seismic refraction were
investigated and studied. The effect of water content in granite rock
towards the value of Vp and Vs during ultrasonic testing are also
measured. Within this work, the tolerance of the differences between
the velocity of seismic wave getting from ultrasonic testing and the
velocity of seismic wave getting from seismic refraction are also
measured and investigated.
Abstract: System-level design based on high-level abstractions
is becoming increasingly important in hardware and embedded
system design. This paper analyzes meta-design techniques oriented
at developing meta-programs and meta-models for well-understood
domains. Meta-design techniques include meta-programming and
meta-modeling. At the programming level of design process, metadesign
means developing generic components that are usable in a
wider context of application than original domain components. At the
modeling level, meta-design means developing design patterns that
describe general solutions to the common recurring design problems,
and meta-models that describe the relationship between different
types of design models and abstractions. The paper describes and
evaluates the implementation of meta-design in hardware design
domain using object-oriented and meta-programming techniques.
The presented ideas are illustrated with a case study.
Abstract: Biodiesel as an alternative fuel for diesel engines has been developed for some three decades now. While it is gaining wide acceptance in Europe, USA and some parts of Asia, the same cannot be said of Africa. With more than 35 countries in the continent depending on imported crude oil, it is necessary to look for alternative fuels which can be produced from resources available locally within any country. Hence this study presents performance of single cylinder diesel engine using blends of shea butter biodiesel. Shea butter was transformed into biodiesel by transesterification process. Tests are conducted to compare the biodiesel with baseline diesel fuel in terms of engine performance and exhaust emission characteristics. The results obtained showed that the addition of biodiesel to diesel fuel decreases the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and increases the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC). These results are expected due to the lower energy content of biodiesel fuel. On the other hand while the NOx emissions increased with increase in biodiesel content in the fuel blends, the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), un-burnt hydrocarbon (UHC) and smoke opacity decreased. The engine performance which indicates that the biodiesel has properties and characteristics similar to diesel fuel and the reductions in exhaust emissions make shea butter biodiesel a viable additive or substitute to diesel fuel.
Abstract: Some meta-schedulers query the information system of individual supercomputers in order to submit jobs to the least busy supercomputer on a computational Grid. However, this information can become outdated by the time a job starts due to changes in scheduling priorities. The MSR scheme is based on Multiple Simultaneous Requests and can take advantage of opportunities resulting from these priorities changes. This paper presents the SWARM meta-scheduler, which can speed up the execution of large sets of tasks by minimizing the job queuing time through the submission of multiple requests. Performance tests have shown that this new meta-scheduler is faster than an implementation of the MSR scheme and the gLite meta-scheduler. SWARM has been used through the GridQTL project beta-testing portal during the past year. Statistics are provided for this usage and demonstrate its capacity to achieve reliably a substantial reduction of the execution time in production conditions.
Abstract: The given article deals with the usage of the concept
in many spheres of science, including its place in the Kazakh
linguistics One of such concepts is the role of the “бақыт”
(“happiness”) concept in the Kazakh outlook. The work tells us about
its studying. The data about studying of the “happiness” concept in
the sphere of philosophy, psychology, cognitive linguistics, lingo
cultural study, logics, psycho-linguistic are given in this work.
Particularly dwelling at length on the studying level of the concept in
the sphere of cognitive linguistics, analysis have been made
pertaining linguist point of views. It was pointed out that the concept
of “happiness” hasn’t been studied yet in the Kazakh linguistics and
it is necessary to find out the meaning of the language units related to
this concept, i.e. blessings, proverbs, sayings and phrasiological units.
Abstract: A bond graph model of a hydroelectric plant is
proposed. In order to analyze the system some structural properties
of a bond graph are used. The structural controllability of
the hydroelctric plant is described. Also, the steady state of the
state variables applying the bond graph in a derivative causality
assignment is obtained. Finally, simulation results of the system
are shown.
Abstract: The effect of antifungal compound from Bacillus
subtilis strain LB5 was tested against conidial germination of
Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Pestalotiopsis eugeniae, causal
agent of anthracnose and fruit rot of wax apple, respectively.
Observation under scanning electron microscope and light compound
microscope revealed that conidial germination was completely
inhibited when treated with culture broth, culture filtrate, or crude
extract from strain LB5. Identification of purified antifungal
compound produced by strain LB5 in cell-free supernatant by nuclear
magnetic resonance and fast atom bombardment showed that the
active compound was iturin A-2.