Abstract: Automobile Industry has great importance in the
Spanish economy (8,7 % of the active Spanish population is
employed in this sector).The above mentioned sector has been one of
the principal sectors affected by the current economic crisis,
consistently, the budgets in advertising have been severely limited
(46,9 % less in the period of reference), these needs of reduction
have originated a substantial change in the advertising strategy (from
2007 the increase of the advertising investment in Internet is 251,6
%), and increase profitability. The growing use of social media by
consumers therefore makes online consumer conversations an
attractive additional format for Automobile firms to promote
products at a lower cost. This research analyzes the relation between
the activity in Social Media and the design in the car industry,
looking for relations between strategies of design based on Social
Media and sales and a channel of information for companies to know
what the consumer preferences. For this ongoing research we used a
longitudinal withdrawal of information has been used using
information of panel. Managerial and research implications of the
finding are discussed.
Abstract: This paper reviews designs of the built environment
from a sustainability perspective, emphasizing their importance in
achieving ecological and sustainable economic objectives. The built
environment has traditionally resulted in loss of biodiversity,
extinction of some species, climate change, excessive water use, land
degradation, space depletion, waste accumulation, energy
consumption and environmental pollution. Materials used like
plastics, metals, bricks, concrete, cement, natural aggregates, glass
and plaster have wreaked havoc on the earth´s resources, since they
have high levels of embodied energy hence not sustainable.
Additional resources are consumed during use and disposal phases.
Proposed designs for sustainability solutions include: ecological
sanitation and eco-efficiency systems that ensure social, economic,
environmental and technical sustainability. Renewable materials and
energy systems, passive cooling and heating systems and material
and energy reduction, reuse and recycling can improve the sector.
These ideas are intended to inform the field of ecological design of
the built environment.
Abstract: Accident in spent fuel pool (SFP) of Fukushima
Daiichi Unit 4 showed the importance of continuous monitoring of the
key environmental parameters such as water temperature, water level,
and radiation level in the SFP at accident conditions. Because the SFP
water temperature is one of the key parameters indicating SFP
conditions, its behavior at accident conditions shall be understood to
prepare appropriate measures. This study estimated temporal change
in the SFP water temperature at Kori Unit 1 with 587 MWe for 1 hour
after initiation of a loss-of-pool-cooling accident. For the estimation,
ANSYS CFX 13.0 code was used. The estimation showed that the
increasing rate of the water temperature was 3.90C per hour and the
SFP water temperature could reach 1000C in 25.6 hours after the
initiation of loss-of-pool-cooling accident.
Abstract: Cryptographic protocols are widely used in various
applications to provide secure communications. They are usually
represented as communicating agents that send and receive messages.
These agents use their knowledge to exchange information and
communicate with other agents involved in the protocol. An agent
knowledge can be partitioned into explicit knowledge and procedural
knowledge. The explicit knowledge refers to the set of information
which is either proper to the agent or directly obtained from other
agents through communication. The procedural knowledge relates to
the set of mechanisms used to get new information from what is
already available to the agent.
In this paper, we propose a mathematical framework which specifies
the explicit knowledge of an agent involved in a cryptographic
protocol. Modelling this knowledge is crucial for the specification,
analysis, and implementation of cryptographic protocols. We also,
report on a prototype tool that allows the representation and the
manipulation of the explicit knowledge.
Abstract: Cancer becomes one of the leading cause of death in
many countries over the world. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR)
spectra of human lung cancer cells (A549) treated with PMF (natural
product extracted from PM 701) for different time intervals were
examined. Second derivative and difference method were taken in
comparison studies. Cesium (Cs) and Rubidium (Rb) nanoparticles in
PMF were detected by Energy Dispersive X-ray attached to Scanning
Electron Microscope SEM-EDX. Characteristic changes in protein
secondary structure, lipid profile and changes in the intensities of
DNA bands were identified in treated A549 cells spectra. A
characteristic internucleosomal ladder of DNA fragmentation was
also observed after 30 min of treatment. Moreover, the pH values
were significantly increases upon treatment due to the presence of Cs
and Rb nanoparticles in the PMF fraction. These results support the
previous findings that PMF is selective anticancer agent and can
produce apoptosis to A549 cells.
Abstract: Software developed for a specific customer under contract
typically undergoes a period of testing by the customer before
acceptance. This is known as user acceptance testing and the process
can reveal both defects in the system and requests for changes to
the product. This paper uses nonhomogeneous Poisson processes to
model a real user acceptance data set from a recently developed
system. In particular a split Poisson process is shown to provide an
excellent fit to the data. The paper explains how this model can be
used to aid the allocation of resources through the accurate prediction
of occurrences both during the acceptance testing phase and before
this activity begins.
Abstract: Contamination of aromatic compounds in water can
cause severe long-lasting effects not only for biotic organism but also
on human health. Several alternative technologies for remediation of
polluted water have been attempted. One of these is adsorption
process of aromatic compounds by using organic modified clay
mineral. Porous structure of clay is potential properties for molecular
adsorptivity and it can be increased by immobilizing hydrophobic
structure to attract organic compounds. In this work natural
montmorillonite were modified with cetyltrimethylammonium
(CTMA+) and was evaluated for use as adsorbents of aromatic
compounds: benzene, toluene, and 2-chloro phenol in its single and
multicomponent solution by ethanol:water solvent. Preparation of
CTMA-montmorillonite was conducted by simple ion exchange
procedure and characterization was conducted by using x-day
diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infra red (FTIR) and gas
sorption analysis. The influence of structural modification of
montmorillonite on its adsorption capacity and adsorption affinity of
organic compound were studied. It was shown that adsorptivity of
montmorillonite was increased by modification associated with
arrangements of CTMA+ in the structure even the specific surface
area of modified montmorillonite was lower than raw
montmorillonite. Adsorption rate indicated that material has affinity
to adsorb compound by following order: benzene> toluene > 2-chloro
phenol. The adsorption isotherms of benzene and toluene showed 1st
order adsorption kinetic indicating a partition phenomenon of
compounds between the aqueous and organophilic CTMAmontmorillonite.
Abstract: This research explorers the relationship between leadership style and continuous improvement (CI) teams. CI teams have several features that are not always found in other types of teams, including multi-functional members, short time period for performance, positive and actionable results, and exposure to senior leadership. There is no one best style of leadership for these teams. Instead, it is important to select the best leadership style for the situation. The leader must have the flexibility to change styles and the skill to use the chosen style effectively in order to ensure the team’s success.
Abstract: Cerium-doped lanthanum bromide LaBr3:Ce(5%)
crystals are considered to be one of the most advanced scintillator
materials used in PET scanning, combining a high light yield, fast
decay time and excellent energy resolution. Apart from the correct
choice of scintillator, it is also important to optimise the detector
geometry, not least in terms of source-to-detector distance in order to
obtain reliable measurements and efficiency. In this study a
commercially available 25 mm x 25 mm BrilLanCeTM 380 LaBr3: Ce
(5%) detector was characterised in terms of its efficiency at varying
source-to-detector distances. Gamma-ray spectra of 22Na, 60Co, and
137Cs were separately acquired at distances of 5, 10, 15, and 20cm. As
a result of the change in solid angle subtended by the detector, the
geometric efficiency reduced in efficiency with increasing distance.
High efficiencies at low distances can cause pulse pile-up when
subsequent photons are detected before previously detected events
have decayed. To reduce this systematic error the source-to-detector
distance should be balanced between efficiency and pulse pile-up
suppression as otherwise pile-up corrections would need to be
necessary at short distances. In addition to the experimental
measurements Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out for the
same setup, allowing a comparison of results. The advantages and
disadvantages of each approach have been highlighted.
Abstract: The aim of current study was to investigate the
changes in the quality parameters of Holstein bull semen during the
heat stress and the effect of feeding a source of omega-3 fatty acids
in this period. Samples were obtained from 19 Holstein bulls during
the expected time of heat stress in Iran (June to September 2009).
Control group (n=10) were fed a standard concentrate feed while
treatment group (n=9) had this feed top dressed with 100 g of an
omega-3 enriched nutriceutical. Semen quality was assessed on
ejaculates collected after 1, 5, 9 and 12 weeks of supplementation.
Computer-assisted assessment of sperm motility, viability (eosinnigrosin)
and hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) were conducted.
Heat stress affected sperm quality parameters by week 5 and 9
(p
Abstract: This paper proposes the concept of aerocapture with
aerodynamic-environment-adaptive variable geometry flexible
aeroshell that vehicle deploys. The flexible membrane is composed
of thin-layer film or textile as its aeroshell in order to solve some
problems obstructing realization of aerocapture technique.
Multi-objective optimization study is conducted to investigate
solutions and derive design guidelines. As a result, solutions which
can avoid aerodynamic heating and enlarge the corridor width up
to 10% are obtained successfully, so that the effectiveness of this
concept can be demonstrated. The deformation-use optimum
solution changes its drag coefficient from 1.6 to 1.1, along with the
change in dynamic pressure. Moreover, optimization results show
that deformation-use solution requires the membrane for which
upper temperature limit and strain limit are more than 700 K and
120%, respectively, and elasticity (Young-s modulus) is of order of
106 Pa.
Abstract: This paper presents a hybrid fuzzy-PD plus PID
(HFPP) controller and its application to steam distillation process for
essential oil extraction system. Steam temperature is one of the most
significant parameters that can influence the composition of essential
oil yield. Due to parameter variations and changes in operation
conditions during distillation, a robust steam temperature controller becomes nontrivial to avoid the degradation of essential oil quality.
Initially, the PRBS input is triggered to the system and output of steam temperature is modeled using ARX model structure. The
parameter estimation and tuning method is adopted by simulation
using HFPP controller scheme. The effectiveness and robustness of
proposed controller technique is validated by real time
implementation to the system. The performance of HFPP using 25 and 49 fuzzy rules is compared. The experimental result demonstrates the proposed HFPP using 49 fuzzy rules achieves a
better, consistent and robust controller compared to PID when considering the test on tracking the set point and the effects due to disturbance.
Abstract: This paper argues that networks, such as the ECN and the American network, are affected by certain small events which are inherent to path dependence and preclude the full evolution towards efficiency. It is advocated that the American network is superior to the ECN in many respects due to its greater flexibility and longer history. This stems in particular from the creation of the American network, which was based on a small number of cases. Such a structure encourages further changes and modifications which are not necessarily radical. The ECN, by contrast, was established by legislative action, which explains its rigid structure and resistance to change. This paper is an attempt to transpose the superiority of the American network on to the ECN. It looks at concepts such as judicial cooperation, harmonisation of procedure, peer review and regulatory impact assessments (RIAs), and dispute resolution procedures.
Abstract: Crime is a major societal problem for most of the
world's nations. Consequently, the police need to develop new
methods to improve their efficiency in dealing with these ever increasing crime rates. Two of the common difficulties that the police
face in crime control are crime investigation and the provision of crime information to the general public to help them protect themselves. Crime control in police operations involves the use of
spatial data, crime data and the related crime data from different organizations (depending on the nature of the analysis to be made).
These types of data are collected from several heterogeneous sources
in different formats and from different platforms, resulting in a lack of standardization. Moreover, there is no standard framework for
crime data collection, integration and dissemination through mobile
devices. An investigation into the current situation in crime control was carried out to identify the needs to resolve these issues. This
paper proposes and investigates the use of service oriented
architecture (SOA) and the mobile spatial information service in crime control. SOA plays an important role in crime control as an
appropriate way to support data exchange and model sharing from
heterogeneous sources. Crime control also needs to facilitate mobile
spatial information services in order to exchange, receive, share and release information based on location to mobile users anytime and
anywhere.
Abstract: The data exchanged on the Web are of different nature
from those treated by the classical database management systems;
these data are called semi-structured data since they do not have a
regular and static structure like data found in a relational database;
their schema is dynamic and may contain missing data or types.
Therefore, the needs for developing further techniques and
algorithms to exploit and integrate such data, and extract relevant
information for the user have been raised. In this paper we present
the system OSIX (Osiris based System for Integration of XML
Sources). This system has a Data Warehouse model designed for the
integration of semi-structured data and more precisely for the
integration of XML documents. The architecture of OSIX relies on
the Osiris system, a DL-based model designed for the representation
and management of databases and knowledge bases. Osiris is a viewbased
data model whose indexing system supports semantic query
optimization. We show that the problem of query processing on a
XML source is optimized by the indexing approach proposed by
Osiris.
Abstract: The paper contains an investigation on basic problems
about the zeros of analytic theta functions. A brief introduction to
analytic representation of finite quantum systems is given. The zeros
of this function and there evolution time are discussed. Two open
problems are introduced. The first problem discusses the cases when
the zeros follow the same path. As the basis change the quantum state
|f transforms into different quantum state. The second problem is
to define a map between two toruses where the domain and the range
of this map are the analytic functions on toruses.
Abstract: In Multiple Sclerosis, pathological changes in the
brain results in deviations in signal intensity on Magnetic Resonance
Images (MRI). Quantitative analysis of these changes and their
correlation with clinical finding provides important information for
diagnosis. This constitutes the objective of our work. A new approach
is developed. After the enhancement of images contrast and the brain
extraction by mathematical morphology algorithm, we proceed to the
brain segmentation. Our approach is based on building statistical
model from data itself, for normal brain MRI and including clustering
tissue type. Then we detect signal abnormalities (MS lesions) as a
rejection class containing voxels that are not explained by the built
model. We validate the method on MR images of Multiple Sclerosis
patients by comparing its results with those of human expert
segmentation.
Abstract: Topics Disaster and Emergency Management are highly debated among experts. Fast communication will help to deal with emergencies. Problem is with the network connection and data exchange. The paper suggests a solution, which allows possibilities and perspectives of new flexible communication platform to the protection of communication systems for crisis management. This platform is used for everyday communication and communication in crisis situations too.
Abstract: Avalanche velocity (from start to track zone) has been estimated in the present model for an avalanche which is triggered artificially by an explosive devise. The initial development of the model has been from the concept of micro-continuum theories [1], underwater explosions [2] and from fracture mechanics [3] with appropriate changes to the present model. The model has been computed for different slab depth R, slope angle θ, snow density ¤ü, viscosity μ, eddy viscosity η*and couple stress parameter η. The applicability of the present model in the avalanche forecasting has been highlighted.
Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the profile of
hepatitis in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and to determine which age
group hepatitis viruses most commonly infect. The epidemiology of
viral hepatitis in Saudi Arabia has undergone major changes,
concurrent with major socioeconomic developments over the last two
to three decades. This disease represents a major public health
problem in Saudi Arabia resulting in the need for considerable
healthcare resources. A retrospective cross sectional analysis of the
reported cases of viral hepatitis was conducted based on the reports
of The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia about Hepatitis A, B and C
infections in all regions from the period of January 2006 to December
2010. The study demonstrated that incidence of viral Hepatitis is
decreasing, except for Hepatitis B that showed minimal increase. Of
hepatitis A, B, and C, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) was the most
predominant type, accounting for (53%) of the cases, followed by
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) (30%) and HAV (17%). HAV infection
predominates in children (5–14 years) with 60% of viral hepatitis
cases, HBV in young adults (15–44 years) with 69% of viral hepatitis
cases, and HCV in older adults (>45 years) with 59% of viral
hepatitis cases. Despite significant changes in the prevalence of viral
hepatitis A, B and C, it remains a major public health problem in
Saudi Arabia; however, it showed a significant decline in the last two
decades that could be attributed to the vaccination programs and the
improved health facilities. Further researches are needed to identify
the risk factors making a specific age group or a specific region in
Saudi Arabia targeted for a specific type of hepatitis viruses.