Abstract: Consumer behaviour analysis represents an important
field of study in marketing. Particularly strategy development for
marketing and communications will be more focused and effective
when marketers have an understanding of the motivations, behaviour
and psychology of consumers. While materialism has been found to
be one of the important elements in consumer behaviour, compulsive
consumption represents another aspect that has recently attracted
more attention. This is because of the growing prevalence of
dysfunctional buying that has raised concern in consumer societies.
Present studies and analyses on origins and motivations of
compulsive buying have mainly focused on either individual factors
or groups of related factors and hence a need for a holistic view
exists. This paper provides a comprehensive perspective on
compulsive consumption and establishes relevant propositions
keeping the family life cycle stages as a reference for the incidence of
chronic consumer states and their influence on compulsive
consumption.
Abstract: This paper presents a Reliability-Based Topology
Optimization (RBTO) based on Evolutionary Structural Optimization
(ESO). An actual design involves uncertain conditions such as
material property, operational load and dimensional variation.
Deterministic Topology Optimization (DTO) is obtained without
considering of the uncertainties related to the uncertainty parameters.
However, RBTO involves evaluation of probabilistic constraints,
which can be done in two different ways, the reliability index
approach (RIA) and the performance measure approach (PMA). Limit
state function is approximated using Monte Carlo Simulation and
Central Composite Design for reliability analysis. ESO, one of the
topology optimization techniques, is adopted for topology
optimization. Numerical examples are presented to compare the DTO
with RBTO.
Abstract: In view of geological origin, formation of the shallow
gas reservoir of the Hangzhou Bay, northern Zhejiang Province,
eastern China, and original occurrence characteristics of the gassy
sand are analyzed. Generally, gassy sand in scale gas reservoirs is in
the state of residual moisture content and the approximate scope of
initial matric suction of sand ranges about from 0kPa to100kPa.
Results based on GDS triaxial tests show that the classical shear
strength formulas of unsaturated soil can not effectively describe basic
strength characteristics of gassy sand; the relationship between
apparent cohesion and matric suction of gassy sand agrees well with
the power function, which can reasonably be used to describe the
strength of gassy sand. In the stress path of gas release, shear strength
of gassy sand will increase and experimental results show the formula
proposed in this paper can effectively predict the strength increment.
When saturated strength indexes of the sand are used in engineering
design, moderate reduction should be considered.
Abstract: Automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS)
become frequently used systems in warehouses. There has been a
transition from human based forklift applications to fast and safe
AS/RS applications in firm-s warehouse systems. In this study, basic
components and automation systems of the AS/RS are examined.
Proposed system's automation components and their tasks in the
system control algorithm were stated. According to this control
algorithm the control system structure was obtained.
Abstract: In this paper; we are interested principally in dynamic modelling of quadrotor while taking into account the high-order nonholonomic constraints in order to develop a new control scheme as well as the various physical phenomena, which can influence the dynamics of a flying structure. These permit us to introduce a new state-space representation. After, the use of Backstepping approach for the synthesis of tracking errors and Lyapunov functions, a sliding mode controller is developed in order to ensure Lyapunov stability, the handling of all system nonlinearities and desired tracking trajectories. Finally simulation results are also provided in order to illustrate the performances of the proposed controller.
Abstract: In this paper, the steady-state temperature of a sample 500 KW two rotor one stator Non-slotted axial flux permanent magnet motor is calculated using the finite element simulator software package. Due to the high temperature in various parts of the machine, especially at stator winding, a cooling system is designed for the motor and the temperature is recalculated. The results show that the temperature obtained for the parts is within the permissible range.
Abstract: A method based on the power series solution is proposed to solve the natural frequency of flapping vibration for the rotating inclined Euler beam with constant angular velocity. The vibration of the rotating beam is measured from the position of the corresponding steady state axial deformation. In this paper the governing equations for linear vibration of a rotating Euler beam are derived by the d'Alembert principle, the virtual work principle and the consistent linearization of the fully geometrically nonlinear beam theory in a rotating coordinate system. The governing equation for flapping vibration of the rotating inclined Euler beam is linear ordinary differential equation with variable coefficients and is solved by a power series with four independent coefficients. Substituting the power series solution into the corresponding boundary conditions at two end nodes of the rotating beam, a set of homogeneous equations can be obtained. The natural frequencies may be determined by solving the homogeneous equations using the bisection method. Numerical examples are studied to investigate the effect of inclination angle on the natural frequency of flapping vibration for rotating inclined Euler beams with different angular velocity and slenderness ratio.
Abstract: The main aim of this study was to examine whether
people understand indicative conditionals on the basis of syntactic
factors or on the basis of subjective conditional probability. The
second aim was to investigate whether the conditional probability of
q given p depends on the antecedent and consequent sizes or derives
from inductive processes leading to establish a link of plausible cooccurrence
between events semantically or experientially associated.
These competing hypotheses have been tested through a 3 x 2 x 2 x 2
mixed design involving the manipulation of four variables: type of
instructions (“Consider the following statement to be true", “Read the
following statement" and condition with no conditional statement);
antecedent size (high/low); consequent size (high/low); statement
probability (high/low). The first variable was between-subjects, the
others were within-subjects. The inferences investigated were Modus
Ponens and Modus Tollens. Ninety undergraduates of the Second
University of Naples, without any prior knowledge of logic or
conditional reasoning, participated in this study.
Results suggest that people understand conditionals in a syntactic
way rather than in a probabilistic way, even though the perception of
the conditional probability of q given p is at least partially involved in
the conditionals- comprehension. They also showed that, in presence
of a conditional syllogism, inferences are not affected by the
antecedent or consequent sizes. From a theoretical point of view these
findings suggest that it would be inappropriate to abandon the idea
that conditionals are naturally understood in a syntactic way for the
idea that they are understood in a probabilistic way.
Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of forbidden states in
non safe Petri Nets. In the system, for preventing it from entering the
forbidden states, some linear constraints can be assigned to them.
Then these constraints can be enforced on the system using control
places. But when the number of constraints in the system is large, a
large number of control places must be added to the model of system.
This concept complicates the model of system. There are some
methods for reducing the number of constraints in safe Petri Nets.
But there is no a systematic method for non safe Petri Nets. In this
paper we propose a method for reducing the number of constraints in
non safe Petri Nets which is based on solving an integer linear
programming problem.
Abstract: The objective of this paper, is to apply support vector machine (SVM) approach for the classification of cancerous and normal regions of prostate images. Three kinds of textural features are extracted and used for the analysis: parameters of the Gauss- Markov random field (GMRF), correlation function and relative entropy. Prostate images are acquired by the system consisting of a microscope, video camera and a digitizing board. Cross-validated classification over a database of 46 images is implemented to evaluate the performance. In SVM classification, sensitivity and specificity of 96.2% and 97.0% are achieved for the 32x32 pixel block sized data, respectively, with an overall accuracy of 96.6%. Classification performance is compared with artificial neural network and k-nearest neighbor classifiers. Experimental results demonstrate that the SVM approach gives the best performance.
Abstract: The evolution of current modeling specifications gives rise to the problem of generating automated test cases from a variety of application tools. Past endeavours on behavioural testing of UML statecharts have not systematically leveraged the potential of existing graph theory for testing of objects. Therefore there exists a need for a simple, tool-independent, and effective method for automatic test generation. An architecture, codenamed ACUTE-J (Automated stateChart Unit Testing Engine for Java), for automating the unit test generation process is presented. A sequential approach for converting UML statechart diagrams to JUnit test classes is described, with the application of existing graph theory. Research byproducts such as a universal XML Schema and API for statechart-driven testing are also proposed. The result from a Java implementation of ACUTE-J is discussed in brief. The Chinese Postman algorithm is utilised as an illustration for a run-through of the ACUTE-J architecture.
Abstract: An Ad hoc wireless network comprises of mobile
terminals linked and communicating with each other sans the aid of
traditional infrastructure. Optimized Link State Protocol (OLSR) is a
proactive routing protocol, in which routes are discovered/updated
continuously so that they are available when needed. Hello messages
generated by a node seeks information about its neighbor and if the
latter fails to respond to a specified number of hello messages
regulated by neighborhood hold time, the node is forced to assume
that the neighbor is not in range. This paper proposes to evaluate
OLSR routing protocol in a random mobility network having various
neighborhood hold time intervals. The throughput and delivery ratio
are also evaluated to learn about its efficiency for multimedia loads.
Abstract: In this study, a semi-cylinder obstacle placed in a
channel is handled to determine the effect of flow and heat transfer
around the obstacle. Both faces of the semi-cylinder are used in the
numerical analysis. First, the front face of the semi-cylinder is stated
perpendicular to flow, than the rear face is placed. The study is
carried out numerically, by using commercial software ANSYS 11.0.
The well-known κ-ε model is applied as the turbulence model.
Reynolds number is in the range of 104 to 105 and air is assumed as
the flowing fluid. The results showed that, heat transfer increased
approximately 15 % in the front faze case, while it enhanced up to 28
% in the rear face case.
Abstract: A spatial classification technique incorporating a State of Art Feature Extraction algorithm is proposed in this paper for classifying a heterogeneous classes present in hyper spectral images. The classification accuracy can be improved if and only if both the feature extraction and classifier selection are proper. As the classes in the hyper spectral images are assumed to have different textures, textural classification is entertained. Run Length feature extraction is entailed along with the Principal Components and Independent Components. A Hyperspectral Image of Indiana Site taken by AVIRIS is inducted for the experiment. Among the original 220 bands, a subset of 120 bands is selected. Gray Level Run Length Matrix (GLRLM) is calculated for the selected forty bands. From GLRLMs the Run Length features for individual pixels are calculated. The Principle Components are calculated for other forty bands. Independent Components are calculated for next forty bands. As Principal & Independent Components have the ability to represent the textural content of pixels, they are treated as features. The summation of Run Length features, Principal Components, and Independent Components forms the Combined Features which are used for classification. SVM with Binary Hierarchical Tree is used to classify the hyper spectral image. Results are validated with ground truth and accuracies are calculated.
Abstract: Unsteady boundary layer flow of an incompressible
micropolar fluid over a stretching sheet when the sheet is stretched in
its own plane is studied in this paper. The stretching velocity is
assumed to vary linearly with the distance along the sheet. Two equal
and opposite forces are impulsively applied along the x-axis so that the
sheet is stretched, keeping the origin fixed in a micropolar fluid. The
transformed unsteady boundary layer equations are solved
numerically using the Keller-box method for the whole transient from
the initial state to final steady-state flow. Numerical results are
obtained for the velocity and microrotation distributions as well as the
skin friction coefficient for various values of the material parameter K.
It is found that there is a smooth transition from the small-time
solution to the large-time solution.
Abstract: The construction industry is the pillar industry in
China, accounting for about 6% of the gross domestic product. Along
with changes in the external environment of the construction industry
in China, the construction firm faces fierce competition. The paper
aims to investigate the relationship between diversified types of
construction firm and its performance in China. Based on generalist
and specialist strategy in organizational ecology, we think a generalist
organization can be applied to an enterprise with diversified
developments, while specialist groups are extended to professional
enterprises .This study takes advantage of annual financial data of
listed construction firm to empirically verify the relationship between
diversification and corporation performance establishing a regression
equation to econometric analysis. We find that: 1) Specialization can
significantly improve the level of profitability of listed construction
firms, and there is a significant positive relationship with corporate
performance; 2) The level of operating performance of listed
construction enterprises which engage in unrelated diversification is
higher than those with related diversification; 3) The relationship
between state-owned construction firms and corporate performance is
negative. The more the year of foundation is, the higher performance
will be; however, the more the year of being listed, the lower
performance will be.
Abstract: This article refers to the action of Kazakh
intelligentsia towards the formation of national state and their
attempt for reconstruction of national independence and building the
way to nowadays- independence through reviewing the history of our
national ideology.
Abstract: Trauma in early life is widely regarded as a cause for
adult mental health problems. This study explores the role of
secondary trauma on later functioning in a sample of 359 university
students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes in the United
States. Participants were initially divided into four groups based on
1) having directly experienced trauma (assaultive violence), 2)
having directly experienced trauma and secondary traumatization
through the unanticipated death of a close friend or family member
or witnessing of an injury or shocking even), 3) having no
experience of direct trauma but having experienced indirect trauma
(secondary trauma), or 4) reporting no exposure. Participants
completed a battery of measures on concepts associated with
psychological functioning which included measures of
psychological well-being, problem solving, coping and resiliency.
Findings discuss differences in psychological functioning and
resilience based on participants who experienced secondary
traumatization and assaultive violence versus secondary
traumatization alone.
Abstract: An ethical mandate of the social work profession in the
United States is that BSW and MSW graduates are sufficiently
prepared to both understand diverse cultural values and beliefs and
offer services that are culturally sensitive and relevant to clients. This
skill set is particularly important for social workers in the 21st Century,
given the increasing globalization of the U.S. and world. The purpose
of this paper is to outline a pedagogical model for teaching cultural
competency that resulted in a significant increase in cultural
competency for MSW graduates at Western Kentucky University
(WKU). More specifically, this model is predicated on five specific
culturally sensitive principles and activities that were found to be
highly effective in conveying culturally relevant knowledge and skills
to MSW students at WKU. Future studies can assess the effectiveness
of these principles in other MSW programs across the U.S. and abroad.
Abstract: This paper presents an ESN-based Arabic phoneme
recognition system trained with supervised, forced and combined
supervised/forced supervised learning algorithms. Mel-Frequency
Cepstrum Coefficients (MFCCs) and Linear Predictive Code (LPC)
techniques are used and compared as the input feature extraction
technique. The system is evaluated using 6 speakers from the King
Abdulaziz Arabic Phonetics Database (KAPD) for Saudi Arabia
dialectic and 34 speakers from the Center for Spoken Language
Understanding (CSLU2002) database of speakers with different
dialectics from 12 Arabic countries. Results for the KAPD and
CSLU2002 Arabic databases show phoneme recognition
performances of 72.31% and 38.20% respectively.