Abstract: This paper presents the electromagnetic interference
(EMI) shielding effectiveness of rice husk and carbon nanotubes
(RHCNTs) composites in the X-band region (8.2-12.4 GHz). The
difference weight ratio of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were mix with
the rice husk. The rectangular waveguide technique was used to
measure the complex permittivity of the RHCNTs composites
materials. The complex permittivity is represented in terms of both
the real and imaginary parts of permittivity in X-band frequency. The
conductivity of RHCNTs shows increasing when the ratio of CNTs
mixture increases. The composites materials were simulated using
Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio
simulation software. The shielding effectiveness of RHCNTs and
pure rice husk was compared. The highest EMI SE of 30 dB is
obtained for RHCNTs composites of 10 wt % CNTs with 10mm
thickness.
Abstract: Due to the large amount of information in the World
Wide Web (WWW, web) and the lengthy and usually linearly
ordered result lists of web search engines that do not indicate
semantic relationships between their entries, the search for topically
similar and related documents can become a tedious task. Especially,
the process of formulating queries with proper terms representing
specific information needs requires much effort from the user. This
problem gets even bigger when the user's knowledge on a subject and
its technical terms is not sufficient enough to do so. This article
presents the new and interactive search application DocAnalyser that
addresses this problem by enabling users to find similar and related
web documents based on automatic query formulation and state-ofthe-
art search word extraction. Additionally, this tool can be used to
track topics across semantically connected web documents.
Abstract: Robotics provides answers to amputees. The most
expensive solutions surgically connect the prosthesis to nerve endings.
There are also several types of non-invasive technologies that recover
nerve messages passing through the muscles. After analyzing these
messages, myoelectric prostheses perform the desired movement.
The main goal is to avoid all surgeries, which can be heavy and offer
cheaper alternatives. For an amputee, we use valid muscles to recover
the electrical signal involved in a muscle movement. EMG sensors
placed on the muscle allows us to measure a potential difference,
which our program transforms into control for a robotic arm with two
degrees of freedom. We have shown the feasibility of non-invasive
prostheses with two degrees of freedom. Signal analysis and an
increase in degrees of freedom is still being improved.
Abstract: Nations are still finding it quite difficult to win mega
sport competitions despite the major contribution of sport to society
in terms of social and economic development, personal health, and in
education. Even though the world of sports has been transformed into
a huge global economy, it is important to note that the first step of
sport is usually its introduction to children at school through physical
education or PE. In other words, nations who do not win mega sport
competitions also suffer from a weak and neglected PE system. This
problem of the neglect of PE systems is the main motivation of this
research aimed at examining the factors affecting the perceived
awareness of physical education teachers on the ICTs that are
adoptable for the teaching and learning of physical education. Two
types of research objectives will materialize this aim: relevant
theories will be identified in relation to the analysis of the perceived
ICT awareness of PE teachers and subsequent models will be
compiled and designed from existing literature; the empirical testing
of such theories and models will also be achieved through the survey
of PE teachers from the Camperdown magisterial district of the
KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The main hypothesis at the
heart of this study is the relationship between the demographics of PE
teachers, their behavior both as individuals and as social entities, and
their perceived awareness of the ICTs that are adoptable for PE, as
postulated by existing literature; except that this study categorizes
human behavior under performance expectancy, computer attitude,
and social influence. This hypothesis was partially confirmed by the
survey conducted by this research in the sense that performance
expectancy and teachers’ age, gender, computer usage, and class size
were found to be the only factors affecting their awareness of ICTs
for physical education.
Abstract: Since the emergence of e-Commerce, the world of
business has witnessed a radical shift in the way business activities
are conducted. However, the emergence of m-Commerce has further
pushed the boundaries of virtual commerce revolution. As a result,
there seems to be a growing blur in the distinction between e-
Commerce and m-Commerce. In addition, existing definitions for
both forms of commerce highlight characteristics (e.g. type of device
and activity conducted) that may be applicable to both concepts. The
aim of this paper is to identify the characteristics that help define and
delineate between e- and m- Commerce. The paper concludes that
characteristics of mobility, ubiquity and immediacy provide a clearer
and simpler template to distinguish between e-Commerce and m-
Commerce.
Abstract: Students’ achievement and motivation in learning
English in Malaysia is a worrying trend as it is lagging behind several
other countries in Asia. Thus, necessary actions have to be taken by
the parties concerned to overcome this problem. The purpose of this
research was to study the effects of drill and practice courseware on
students’ achievement and motivation in learning English language.
A multimedia courseware was developed for this purpose. The
independent variable was the drill and practice courseware while the
dependent variables were the students’ achievement and motivation.
Their achievement was measured using pre-test and post-test scores,
while motivation was measured using a questionnaire. A total of 60
students from three vernacular primary schools in a northern state in
Malaysia were randomly selected in this study. The findings indicate:
(1) a significant difference between the students’ pre-test and posttest
scores after using the courseware, (2) no significant difference in
the achievement score between male and female students after using
the courseware, (3) a significant difference in motivation score
between the female and the male students, and (4) while the female
students scored significantly higher than the male students in the
aspects of relevance, confidence and satisfaction, no significant
difference in terms of attention was observed between them. Overall,
the findings clearly indicate that although the female students are
significantly more motivated than their male students, they are
equally good in terms of achievement after learning from the
courseware. Through this study, the drill and practice courseware is
proven to influence the students’ learning and motivation.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate graduate
students’ visual attention and perceptions of a Prezi presentation. Ten
postgraduate master students were presented with a Prezi presentation
at the Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia, Universiti
Sains Malaysia (USM). The eye movement indicators such as dwell
time, average fixation on the areas of interests, heat maps and focus
maps were abstracted to indicate the students’ visual attention.
Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the students’
perception of the Prezi presentation in terms of text, slide design,
images, layout and overall presentation. The result revealed that the
students paid more attention to the text followed by the images and
sub heading presented through the Prezi presentation.
Abstract: The sub-task pattern in terms of deviations and defects
should be identified and understood in order to improve the quality of
practices in construction projects. Therefore, sub-task susceptibility
to exposure to deviations and defects has been evaluated and
classified via six classifications proposed in this study. Thirty-four
case studies of specific sub-tasks (from compression members in
constructed concrete structures) were collected from seven
construction projects in order to examine the study’s proposed
classifications. The study revealed that the sub-task has a high
sensitivity to deviation, where 91% of the cases were recorded as
deviations; however, only 19% of cases were recorded as defects.
Other findings were that the actual work during the execution process
is a high source of deviation for this sub-task (74%), while only 26%
of the source of deviation was due to both design documentation and
the actual work. These findings significantly imply that the study’s
proposed classifications could be used to determine the pattern of
each sub-task and develop proactive actions to overcome issues of
sub-task deviations and defects.
Abstract: The aim of present study was to monitor the presence
of Trichodina sp. in Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss collected
from various fish farms in the western provinces of Iran during
January, 2013- January, 2014. Out of 675 sampled fish 335, (49.16%)
were infested with Trichodina. The highest prevalence was observed
in the spring and winter followed by autumn and summer. In general,
the intensity of infection was low except in cases where outbreaks of
Trichodiniasis endangered the survival of fish in some ponds. In light
infestation Trichodina is usually present on gills, fins and skin of
apparently healthy fish. Clinical signs of Trichodiniasis only appear
on fish with heavy infections and cases of moderate ones that are
usually exposed to one or more stress factors including, rough
handling during transportation from ponds, overcrowdness,
malnutrition, high of free ammonia and low of oxygen concentration.
Clinical signs of Trichodiniasis in sampled fish were sluggish
movement, loss of appetite, black coloration, necrosis and ulcer on
different parts of the body, detached scales and excessive
accumulation of mucous in gill pouches. The most obvious
histopathological changes in diseased fish were sloughing of the
epidermal layer, aggregation of leucocytes and melanine-carrying
cells (between the dermis and hypodermis) and proliferative changes
including hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the epithelial lining cells of
gill filaments which resulted in fusion of secondary lamellae. Control
of Trichodiniasis, has been achieved by formalin bath treatment at a
concentration of 250 ppm for one hour.
Abstract: The objectives of this study is to investigate the
existence of the sticky cost behavior of firms listed in the Indonesia
Stock Exchange (IDX) and to find evidence on the effects of sticky
operating expenses (SG&A expenses) on profitability of firms. For
the first objective, this study finds that the sticky cost behavior does
exist. For the second objective, this study finds that the stickier the
operating expenses the lesser future profitability of the firms. This
study concludes that sticky cost affects negatively to the performance
and, therefore, firms should include flexibility in designing the cost
structure of their firms.
Abstract: The parameters of a two-layer soil can be determined by
processing resistivity data obtained from resistivity measurements
carried out on the soil of interest. The processing usually entails
applying the resistivity data as inputs to an optimisation function.
This paper proposes an algorithm which utilises the square error as an
optimisation function. Resistivity data from previous works were
applied to test the accuracy of the new algorithm developed and the
result obtained conforms significantly to results from previous works.
Abstract: The purpose of the present work is to review some
data for the management challenges that the aquaculture industry in
Greece is currently facing. The results indicate that Greek
aquaculture fish farms apply Human Resources Management (HRM)
practices which can increase motivation, commitment and job
satisfaction of their personnel. In turn, these practices can increase
the productivity of the business. The Greek fish farms appear to
invest in research and technological innovation with a good record in
research activities and the generation of patents. Interestingly, the
results of the present work were carried out during the period of the
recent economic crisis in Greece. Several sectors of the Greek
economy were severely affected by the financial problems of the
Greek government and the Greek banks. Under the adverse
economical conditions created by the Greek economic crisis, even the
Greek aquaculture industry, which historically is considered as a
thriving national exporting business sector, experienced harsh
economic and market conditions. As a result of the global, European
and national economic crisis, consumption of fish dropped while
companies had to hold most of their stocked fish in order to regulated
the flow to the market and the price. This occurred at a time where
Banks in Greece had their own financial crisis – banking crisis -
which resulted in limited access to lending for the all business sectors
of the national economy including the Greek aquaculture industry. In
spite of these economic conditions, the Greek aquaculture industry,
after a series of mergers and acquisitions, has now stabilized
production and exhibits very good prospects for future growth.
Evidently, the firms had to cut salaries and on some occasions even
pay their staff in arrears. Nevertheless, the results presented in this
paper indicate that during the economic crisis, the surveyed fish
farms maintained their HRM practices, investing in their human
capital and technological input. In fact, human capital and
technological input are the ticket for future success of companies in
any business sector.
Abstract: A novel simulation method to determine the
displacements of machine tools due to thermal factors is presented.
The specific characteristic of this method is the employment of
original CAD data from the design process chain, which is
interpreted by an algorithm in terms of geometry-based allocation of
convection and radiation parameters. Furthermore analogous models
relating to the thermal behaviour of machine elements are
automatically implemented, which were gained by extensive
experimental testing with thermography imaging. With this a
transient simulation of the thermal field and in series of the
displacement of the machine tool is possible simultaneously during
the design phase. This method was implemented and is already used
industrially in the design of machining centres in order to improve
the quality of herewith manufactured workpieces.
Abstract: Online forum is part of a Learning Management
System (LMS) environment in which students share their opinions.
This study attempts to investigate the perceptions of students towards
online forum and their patterns of listening behavior during the forum
interaction. The students’ perceptions were measured using a
questionnaire, in which seven dimensions were used involving online
experience, benefits of forum participation, cost of participation,
perceived ease of use, usefulness, attitude, and intention. Meanwhile,
their patterns of listening behaviors were obtained using the log file
extracted from the LMS. A total of 25 postgraduate students
undertaking a course were involved in this study, and their activities
in the forum session were recorded by the LMS and used as a log file.
The results from the questionnaire analysis indicated that the students
perceived that the forum is easy to use, useful, and bring benefits to
them. Also, they showed positive attitude towards online forum, and
they have the intention to use it in future. Based on the log data, the
participants were also divided into six clusters of listening behavior,
in which they are different in terms of temporality, breadth, depth and
speaking level. The findings were compared to previous clusters
grouping and future recommendations are also discussed.
Abstract: In MANET, mobile nodes communicate with each
other using the wireless channel where transmission takes place with
significant interference. The wireless medium used in MANET is a
shared resource used by all the nodes available in MANET. Packet
reserving is one important resource management scheme which
controls the allocation of bandwidth among multiple flows through
node cooperation in MANET. This paper proposes packet reserving
and clogging control via Routing Aware Packet Reserving (RAPR)
framework in MANET. It mainly focuses the end-to-end routing
condition with maximal throughput. RAPR is complimentary system
where the packet reserving utilizes local routing information
available in each node. Path setup in RAPR estimates the security
level of the system, and symbolizes the end-to-end routing by
controlling the clogging. RAPR reaches the packet to the destination
with high probability ratio and minimal delay count. The standard
performance measures such as network security level,
communication overhead, end-to-end throughput, resource utilization
efficiency and delay measure are considered in this work. The results
reveals that the proposed packet reservation and clogging control via
Routing Aware Packet Reserving (RAPR) framework performs well
for the above said performance measures compare to the existing
methods.
Abstract: Recent concerns about the value of teaching cursive
handwriting in the classroom are based on the belief that cursive
handwriting or penmanship is an outdated and unnecessary skill in
today’s online world. The discussion of this issue begins with a
description of current initiatives to eliminate handwriting instruction
in schools. This is followed by a brief history of cursive writing
through the ages. Next considered is a description of its benefits as a
preliminary process for younger children as compared with
immediate instruction in keyboarding, particularly in the areas of
vision, cognition, motor skills and automatic fluency. Also
considered, is cursive’s companion, paper itself, and the impact of a
paperless, “screen and keyboard” environment. The discussion
concludes with a consideration of the unique contributions of cursive
and keyboarding as written forms of communication, along with their
respective surfaces, paper and screen. Finally, an assessment of the
practical utility of each skill is followed by an informal assessment of
what is lost and what remains as we move from a predominantly
paper and pen world of handwriting to texting and keyboarding in an
environment of screens.
Abstract: The article discusses multimodal mobility in
contemporary societies as a main planning and organization issue in
the functioning of administrative bodies, a problem which really
exists in the space of contemporary cities in terms of shaping modern
transport systems. The article presents classification of available
resources and initiatives undertaken for developing multimodal
mobility. Solutions can be divided into three groups of measures –
physical measures in the form of changes of the transport network
infrastructure, organizational ones (including transport policy) and
information measures. The latter ones include in particular direct
support for people travelling in the transport network by providing
information about ways of using available means of transport. A
special measure contributing to this end is a trip planner. The article
compares several selected planners. It includes a short description of
the Green Travelling Project, which aims at developing a planner
supporting environmentally friendly solutions in terms of transport
network operation. The article summarizes preliminary findings of
the project.
Abstract: A relationship between face and signature biometrics
is established in this paper. A new approach is developed to predict
faces from signatures by using artificial intelligence. A multilayer
perceptron (MLP) neural network is used to generate face details
from features extracted from signatures, here face is the physical
biometric and signatures is the behavioural biometric. The new
method establishes a relationship between the two biometrics and
regenerates a visible face image from the signature features.
Furthermore, the performance efficiencies of our new technique are
demonstrated in terms of minimum error rates compared to published
work.
Abstract: Innovations not only contribute to competitiveness of
the company but have also positive effects on revenues. On average,
product innovations account to 14 percent of companies’ sales.
Innovation management has substantially changed during the last
decade, because of growing reliance on external partners. As a
consequence, a new task for purchasing arises, as firms need to
understand which suppliers actually do have high potential
contributing to the innovativeness of the firm and which do not.
Proper organization of the purchasing function is important since
for the majority of manufacturing companies deal with substantial
material costs which pass through the purchasing function. In the past
the purchasing function was largely seen as a transaction-oriented,
clerical function but today purchasing is the intermediate with supply
chain partners contributing to innovations, be it product or process
innovations. Therefore, purchasing function has to be organized
differently to enable firm innovation potential.
However, innovations are inherently risky. There are behavioral
risk (that some partner will take advantage of the other party),
technological risk in terms of complexity of products and processes
of manufacturing and incoming materials and finally market risks,
which in fact judge the value of the innovation. These risks are
investigated in this work. Specifically, technological risks which deal
with complexity of the products, and processes will be investigated
more thoroughly. Buying components or such high edge technologies
necessities careful investigation of technical features and therefore is
usually conducted by a team of experts. Therefore it is hypothesized
that higher the technological risk, higher will be the centralization of
the purchasing function as an interface with other supply chain
members.
Main contribution of this research lies is in the fact that analysis
was performed on a large data set of 1493 companies, from 25
countries collected in the GMRG 4 survey. Most analyses of
purchasing function are done by case study analysis of innovative
firms. Therefore this study contributes with empirical evaluations that
can be generalized.
Abstract: This paper is concerning the issues of behaviour of
lightweight expanded clay aggregates concrete exposed to high
temperature. Lightweight aggregates from expanded clay are
produced by firing of row material up to temperature 1050°C.
Lightweight aggregates have suitable properties in terms of volume
stability, when exposed to temperatures up to 1050°C, which could
indicate their suitability for construction applications with higher risk
of fire. The test samples were exposed to heat by using the standard
temperature-time curve ISO 834. Negative changes in resulting
mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, tensile strength,
and flexural strength were evaluated. Also visual evaluation of the
specimen was performed. On specimen exposed to excessive heat, an
explosive spalling could be observed, due to evaporation of
considerable amount of unbounded water from the inner structure of
the concrete.