Abstract: This research paper presents the current practices of
teacher professional development, perceived as beneficial by teachers
themselves, in a private secondary school in Brunei Darussalam. This
is part of the findings of a larger qualitative study on teacher
empowerment, using ethnographic methods for data collection, i.e.
participant observation, interviews and document analysis. The field
work was carried out over a period of six months in 2013. An
analysis of the field data revealed multiple pathways of teacher
professional development existing in the school. The results indicate
that school leaders, the teacher community in the school, students,
and the teachers themselves were the agents in a school that
facilitated teacher empowerment. Besides contributing to the
knowledge base on teacher professional development, the results of
this study provide directions for educational policy makers in their
efforts to enhance professional development in secondary schools of
similar characteristics. For school leaders and the teacher community,
these findings offer guidelines for maximizing the opportunities for
these professional development practices, by strengthening
collegiality and by using the existing structures optimally for the
benefit of all concerned.
Abstract: In this article, a method is presented to effectively
estimate the deformed shape of a thick plate due to line heating. The
method uses a fifth order spline interpolation, with up to C3
continuity at specific points to compute the shape of the deformed
geometry. First and second order derivatives over a surface are the
resulting parameters of a given heating line on a plate. These
parameters are determined through experiments and/or finite element
simulations. Very accurate kriging models are fitted to real or virtual
surfaces to build-up a database of maps. Maps of first and second
order derivatives are then applied on numerical plate models to
evaluate their evolving shapes through a sequence of heating lines.
Adding an optimization process to this approach would allow
determining the trajectories of heating lines needed to shape complex
geometries, such as Francis turbine blades.
Abstract: This paper treats different aspects of entropy measure
in classical information theory and statistical quantum mechanics, it
presents the possibility of extending the definition of Von Neumann
entropy to image and array processing. In the first part, we generalize
the quantum entropy using singular values of arbitrary rectangular
matrices to measure the randomness and the quality of denoising
operation, this new definition of entropy can be implemented to
compare the performance analysis of filtering methods. In the second
part, we apply the concept of pure state in quantum formalism
to generalize the maximum entropy method for narrowband and
farfield source localization problem. Several computer simulation
results are illustrated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed
techniques.
Abstract: Consumers are demanding novel beverages that are
healthier, convenient and have appealing consumer acceptance. The
objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of adding grape
polyphenols and the influence of presenting health claims on the
sensory acceptability of wines. Fresh red sorrel calyces were
fermented into wines. The total soluble solids of the pectinase-treated
sorrel puree were from 4°Brix to 23.8°Brix. Polyphenol in the form
of grape pomace extract was added to sorrel wines (w/v) in specified
levels to give 0. 25. 50 and 75 ppm. A focus group comprising of 12
panelists was use to select the level of polyphenol to be added to
sorrel wines for sensory preference The sensory attributed of the
wines which were evaluated were colour, clarity, aroma, flavor,
mouth-feel, sweetness, astringency and overall preference. The sorrel
wine which was most preferred from focus group evaluation was
presented for hedonic rating. In the first stage of hedonic testing, the
sorrel wine was served chilled at 7°C for 24 h prior to sensory
evaluation. Each panelist was provided with a questionnaire and was
asked to rate the wines on colour, aroma, flavor, mouth-feel,
sweetness, astringency and overall acceptability using a 9-point
hedonic scale. In the second stage of hedonic testing, the panelist
were instructed to read a health abstract on the health benefits of
polyphenolic compounds and again to rate sorrel wine with added 25
ppm polyphenol. Paired t-test was used for the analysis of the
influence of presenting health information on polyphenols on hedonic
scoring of sorrel wines. Focus groups found that the addition of
polyphenol addition had no significant effect on sensory color and
aroma but affected clarity and flavor. A 25 ppm wine was liked
moderately in overall acceptability. The presentation of information
on the health benefit of polyphenols in sorrel wines to panelists had
no significant influence on the sensory acceptance of wine. More
than half of panelists would drink this wine now and then. This wine
had color L 19.86±0.68, chroma 2.10±0.12, hue° 16.90 ±3.10 and
alcohol content of 13.0%. The sorrel wine was liked moderately in
overall acceptability with the added polyphenols.
Abstract: This study presents three different approaches to
estimate bubble point pressures for the binary system of CO2 and
ethyl palmitate fatty acid ethyl ester. The first method involves the
Peng-Robinson (PR) Equation of State (EoS) with the conventional
mixing rule of Van der Waals. The second approach involves the PR
EOS together with the Wong Sandler (WS) mixing rule, coupled with
the UNIQUAC GE model. In order to model the bubble point
pressures with this approach, the volume and area parameter for ethyl
palmitate were estimated by the Hansen group contribution method.
The last method involved the Peng-Robinson, combined with the
Wong-Sandler method, but using NRTL as the GE model. Results
using the Van der Waals mixing rule clearly indicated that this
method has the largest errors among all three methods, with errors in
the range of 3.96-6.22%. The PR-WS-UNIQUAC method exhibited
small errors, with average absolute deviations between 0.95 to 1.97
percent. The PR-WS-NRTL method led to the least errors, where
average absolute deviations ranged between 0.65-1.7%.
Abstract: Sewer deposits have been identified as a major cause
of dysfunctions in combined sewer systems regarding sewer
management, which induces different negative consequents resulting
in poor hydraulic conveyance, environmental damages as well as
worker’s health. In order to overcome the problematics of
sedimentation, flushing has been considered as the most operative
and cost-effective way to minimize the sediments impacts and
prevent such challenges. Flushing, by prompting turbulent wave
effects, can modify the bed form depending on the hydraulic
properties and geometrical characteristics of the conduit. So far, the
dynamics of the bed-load during high-flow events in combined sewer
systems as a complex environment is not well understood, mostly due
to lack of measuring devices capable to work in the “hostile” in
combined sewer system correctly. In this regards, a one-episode
flushing issue from an opening gate valve with weir function was
carried out in a trunk sewer in Paris to understand its cleansing
efficiency on the sediments (thickness: 0-30 cm). During more than
1h of flushing within 5 m distance in downstream of this flushing
device, a maximum flowrate and a maximum level of water have
been recorded at 5 m in downstream of the gate as 4.1 m3/s and 2.1
m respectively. This paper is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of this
type of gate for around 1.1 km (from the point -50 m to +1050 m in
downstream from the gate) by (i) determining bed grain-size
distribution and sediments evolution through the sewer channel, as
well as their organic matter content, and (ii) identifying sections that
exhibit more changes in their texture after the flush. For the first one,
two series of sampling were taken from the sewer length and then
analyzed in laboratory, one before flushing and second after, at same
points among the sewer channel. Hence, a non-intrusive sampling
instrument has undertaken to extract the sediments smaller than the
fine gravels. The comparison between sediments texture after the
flush operation and the initial state, revealed the most modified zones
by the flush effect, regarding the sewer invert slope and hydraulic
parameters in the zone up to 400 m from the gate. At this distance,
despite the increase of sediment grain-size rages, D50 (median grainsize)
varies between 0.6 mm and 1.1 mm compared to 0.8 mm and 10
mm before and after flushing, respectively. Overall, regarding the
sewer channel invert slope, results indicate that grains smaller than
sands (< 2 mm) are more transported to downstream along about 400
m from the gate: in average 69% before against 38% after the flush
with more dispersion of grain-sizes distributions. Furthermore, high
effect of the channel bed irregularities on the bed material evolution
has been observed after the flush.
Abstract: Commercial banks in Nigeria adopted many strategies
to attract fresh deposits including the use of high deposit rate.
However, pricing of banking services moved in favor of the banks at
the expense of customers, resulting in their seeking other investment
alternatives rather than saving their money in the bank. Both deposit
and lending rates were greatly influenced by the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) decision on interest rate. Therefore, commercial bank
effort to attract deposits via manipulation of her rates was greatly
limited, otherwise the banks will be giving out more than it earned.
The study aimed at examining the relationship between interest rate
and fixed fund deposit of commercial banks, how policy-controlled
interest rate affected commercial bank’s fixed fund deposit The
researcher employed ordinary least square technique, using, multiple
linear regression, unrestricted vector auto-regression, correlation
matrix test, granger causality and impulse response graph in the
analysis. Commercial bank’s interest rates affected commercial
bank’s fixed fund deposit significantly while policy-controlled
interest rate did not significantly transmit through the commercial
bank’s interest rates to affect fixed fund deposit. While commercial
banks seek creative ways to expand their fixed fund deposit, policy
authorities in Nigeria should better coordinate interest rate fluctuation
and induce competition in the entire financial sector.
Abstract: This study integrates a larger research empirical
project that examines second language (SL) learners’ profiles and
valid procedures to perform complete and diagnostic assessment in
schools. 102 learners of Portuguese as a SL aged 7 and 17 years
speakers of distinct home languages were assessed in several
linguistic tasks. In this article, we focused on writing performance in
the specific task of narrative essay composition. The written outputs
were measured using the score in six components adapted from an
English SL assessment context (Alberta Education): linguistic
vocabulary, grammar, syntax, strategy, socio-linguistic, and
discourse. The writing processes and strategies in Portuguese
language used by different immigrant students were analysed to
determine features and diversity of deficits on authentic texts
performed by SL writers. Differentiated performance was based on
the diversity of the following variables: grades, previous schooling,
home language, instruction in first language, and exposure to
Portuguese as Second Language. Indo-Aryan languages speakers
showed low writing scores compared to their peers and the type of
language and respective cognitive mapping (such as Mandarin and
Arabic) was the predictor, not linguistic distance. Home language
instruction should also be prominently considered in further research
to understand specificities of cognitive academic profile in a
Romance languages learning context. Additionally, this study also
examined the teachers’ representations that will be here addressed to
understand educational implications of second language teaching in
psychological distress of different minorities in schools of specific
host countries.
Abstract: This report presents an alternative technique of
application of contrast agent in vivo, i.e. before sampling. By this
new method the electron micrograph of tissue sections have an
acceptable contrast compared to other methods and present no artifact
of precipitation on sections. Another advantage is that a small amount
of contrast is needed to get a good result given that most of them are
expensive and extremely toxic.
Abstract: Effects of nicotine on pre-partum body weight and
preimplantation embryonic development has been reported
previously. Present study was conducted to determine the effects of
annatto (Bixa orellana)-derived delta-tocotrienol (TCT) (with
presence of 10% gamma-TCT isomer) on the nicotine-induced
reduction in body weight and 8-cell embryonic growth in mice.
Twenty-four 6-8 weeks old (23-25g) female balb/c mice were
randomly divided into four groups (G1-G4; n=6). Those groups were
subjected to the following treatments for 7 consecutive days: G1
(control) were gavaged with 0.1 ml tocopherol stripped corn oil. G2
was subcutaneously (s.c.) injected with 3 mg/kg/day of nicotine. G3
received concurrent treatment of nicotine (3 mg/kg/day) and 60
mg/kg/day of δ-TCT mixture (contains 90% delta & 10% gamma
isomers) and G4 was given 60 mg/kg/day of δ-TCT mixture alone.
Body weights were recorded daily during the treatment. On Day 8,
females were superovulated with 5 IU Pregnant Mare’s Serum
Gonadotropin (PMSG) for 48 hours followed with 5 IU human
Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) before mated with males at the ratio
of 1:1. Females were sacrificed by cervical dislocation for embryo
collection 48 hours post-coitum. Collected embryos were cultured in
vitro. Results showed that throughout Day 1 to Day 7, the body
weight of nicotine treated group (G2) was significantly lower
(p
Abstract: The Northeast China (NEC) was the most important
agriculture areas and known as the Golden-Maize-Belt. Based on
observed crop data and crop model, we design four simulating
experiments and separate relative impacts and contribution under
climate change, planting date shift, and varieties change as well
change of varieties and planting date. Without planting date and
varieties change, maize yields had no significant change trend at
Hailun station located in the north of NEC, and presented significant
decrease by 0.2 - 0.4 t/10a at two stations, which located in the middle
and the south of NEC. With planting date change, yields showed a
significant increase by 0.09 - 0.47 t/10a. With varieties change, maize
yields had significant increase by 1.8~ 1.9 t/10a at Hailun and Huadian
stations, but a non-significant and low increase by 0.2t /10a at Benxi
located in the south of NEC. With change of varieties and planting
date, yields presented a significant increasing by 0.53- 2.0 t/10a. Their
contribution to yields was -25% ~ -55% for climate change, 15% ~
35% for planting date change, and 20% ~110% for varieties change as
well 30% ~135% for varieties with planting date shift. It found that
change in varieties and planting date were highest yields and were
responsible for significant increases in maize yields, varieties was
secondly, and planting date was thirdly. It found that adaptation in
varieties and planting date greatly improved maize yields, and
increased yields annual variability. The increase of contribution with
planting date and varieties change in 2000s was lower than in 1990s.
Yields with the varieties change and yields with planting date and
varieties change all showed a decreasing trend at Huadian and Benxi
since 2002 or so. It indicated that maize yields increasing trend
stagnated in the middle and south of NEC, and continued in the north
of NEC.
Abstract: The composite flour blend consisting of corn, pearl
millet, black gram and wheat bran in the ratio of 80:5:10:5 was taken
to prepare the extruded product and their effect on physical properties
of extrudate was studied. The extrusion process was conducted in
laboratory by using twin screw extruder. The physical characteristics
evaluated include lateral expansion, bulk density, water absorption
index, water solubility index, and rehydration ratio and moisture
retention. The Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD) was
used to decide the level of processing variables i.e. feed moisture
content (%), screw speed (rpm), and barrel temperature (oC) for the
experiment. The data obtained after extrusion process were analyzed
by using response surface methodology. A second order polynomial
model for the dependent variables was established to fit the
experimental data. The numerical optimization studies resulted in
127°C of barrel temperature, 246 rpm of screw speed, and 14.5% of
feed moisture as optimum variables to produce acceptable extruded
product. The responses predicted by the software for the optimum
process condition resulted in lateral expansion 126%, bulk density
0.28 g/cm3, water absorption index 4.10 g/g, water solubility index
39.90%, rehydration ratio 544% and moisture retention 11.90% with
75% desirability.
Abstract: In order to help the expert to validate association rules
extracted from data, some quality measures are proposed in the
literature. We distinguish two categories: objective and subjective
measures. The first one depends on a fixed threshold and on data
quality from which the rules are extracted. The second one consists
on providing to the expert some tools in the objective to explore and
visualize rules during the evaluation step. However, the number of
extracted rules to validate remains high. Thus, the manually mining
rules task is very hard. To solve this problem, we propose, in this
paper, a semi-automatic method to assist the expert during the
association rule's validation. Our method uses rule-based
classification as follow: (i) We transform association rules into
classification rules (classifiers), (ii) We use the generated classifiers
for data classification. (iii) We visualize association rules with their
quality classification to give an idea to the expert and to assist him
during validation process.
Abstract: Coal tar is a liquid by-product of coal pyrolysis
processes. This liquid oil mixture contains various kinds of useful
compounds such as benzoic aromatic compounds and phenolic
compounds. These compounds are widely used as raw material for
insecticides, dyes, medicines, perfumes, coloring matters, and many
others. The coal tar was collected by pyrolysis process of coal
obtained from PT Kaltim Prima Coal and Arutmin-Kalimantan. The
experiments typically occurred at the atmospheric pressure in a
laboratory furnace at temperatures ranging from 300 to 550oC with a
heating rate of 10oC/min and a holding time of 1 hour at the pyrolysis
temperature. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS)
was used to analyze the coal tar components. The obtained coal tar
has the viscosity of 3.12 cp, the density of 2.78 g/cm3, the calorific
value of 11,048.44 cal/g, and the molecular weight of 222.67. The
analysis result showed that the coal tar contained more than 78
chemical compounds such as benzene, cresol, phenol, xylene,
naphtalene, etc. The total phenolic compounds contained in coal tar
are 33.25% (PT KPC) and 17.58% (Arutmin-Kalimantan). The total
naphtalene compounds contained in coal tar is 14.15% (PT KPC) and
17.13% (Arutmin-Kalimantan).
Abstract: This study analyzes the critical gaps in the
architecture of European stability and the expected role of the
banking union as the new important step towards completing the
Economic and Monetary Union that should enable the creation of
safe and sound financial sector for the euro area market. The single
rulebook together with the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the
Single Resolution Mechanism - as two main pillars of the banking
union, should provide a consistent application of common rules and
administrative standards for supervision, recovery and resolution of
banks – with the final aim of replacing the former bail-out practice
with the bail-in system through which possible future bank failures
would be resolved by their own funds, i.e. with minimal costs for
taxpayers and real economy. In this way, the vicious circle between
banks and sovereigns would be broken. It would also reduce the
financial fragmentation recorded in the years of crisis as the result of
divergent behaviors in risk premium, lending activities and interest
rates between the core and the periphery. In addition, it should
strengthen the effectiveness of monetary transmission channels, in
particular the credit channels and overflows of liquidity on the money
market which, due to the fragmentation of the common financial
market, has been significantly disabled in period of crisis. However,
contrary to all the positive expectations related to the future
functioning of the banking union, major findings of this study
indicate that characteristics of the economic system in which the
banking union will operate should not be ignored. The euro area is an
integration of strong and weak entities with large differences in
economic development, wealth, assets of banking systems, growth
rates and accountability of fiscal policy. The analysis indicates that
low and unbalanced economic growth remains a challenge for the
maintenance of financial stability and this problem cannot be
resolved just by a single supervision. In many countries bank assets
exceed their GDP by several times and large banks are still a matter
of concern, because of their systemic importance for individual
countries and the euro zone as a whole. The creation of the Single
Supervisory Mechanism and the Single Resolution Mechanism is a
response to the European crisis, which has particularly affected
peripheral countries and caused the associated loop between the
banking crisis and the sovereign debt crisis, but has also influenced
banks’ balance sheets in the core countries, as the result of crossborder
capital flows. The creation of the SSM and the SRM should
prevent the similar episodes to happen again and should also provide
a new opportunity for strengthening of economic and financial
systems of the peripheral countries. On the other hand, there is a
potential threat that future focus of the ECB, resolution mechanism
and other relevant institutions will be extremely oriented towards
large and significant banks (whereby one half of them operate in the
core and most important euro area countries), and therefore it remains
questionable to what extent will the common resolution funds will be used for rescue of less important institutions. Recent geopolitical
developments will be the optimal indicator to show whether the
previously established mechanisms are sufficient enough to maintain
the adequate financial stability in the euro area market.
Abstract: Latin America is probably the region with greater
social inequality, contrary to the amount of rights enshrined in their
constitutions. In the last decade of the twentieth century, the area
resulted in significant changes to democratization and constitutional
changes. Through low-key public policy, political leaders activated
participation in the culture of human rights. The struggle for social
rights in Latin America has been a constant regulation. His
consecration at the constitutional level has chained search
application. The constitutionalization and judicial protection of these
rights have been crucial in countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Peru
and Colombia. This paper presents an analytical view on the
constitutionalization of social rights in the Latin American context
and its justiciability.
Abstract: Establishing a secure communication of Internet
conferences for participants is very important. Before starting the
conference, all the participants establish a common conference key to
encrypt/decrypt communicated messages. It enables participants to
exchange the secure messages. Nevertheless, in the conference, if
there are any malicious participants who may try to upset the key
generation process causing other legal participants to obtain a different
conference key. In this article, we propose an improved conference
key agreement with fault-tolerant capability. The proposed scheme
can filter malicious participants at the beginning of the conference to
ensure that all participants obtain the same conference key. Compare
with other schemes, our scheme is more secure and efficient than
others.
Abstract: Mobile Ad hoc Network is a set of self-governing
nodes which communicate through wireless links. Dynamic topology
MANETs makes routing a challenging task. Various routing
protocols are there, but due to various fundamental characteristic
open medium, changing topology, distributed collaboration and
constrained capability, these protocols are tend to various types of
security attacks. Black hole is one among them. In this attack,
malicious node represents itself as having the shortest path to the
destination but that path not even exists. In this paper, we aim to
develop a routing protocol for detection and prevention of black hole
attack by modifying AODV routing protocol. This protocol is able to
detect and prevent the black hole attack. Simulation is done using
NS-2, which shows the improvement in network performance.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is the discrimination of 28
postmenopausal with osteoporotic femoral fractures from an agematched
control group of 28 women using texture analysis based on
fractals. Two pre-processing approaches are applied on radiographic
images; these techniques are compared to highlight the choice of the
pre-processing method. Furthermore, the values of the fractal
dimension are compared to those of the fractal signature in terms of
the classification of the two populations. In a second analysis, the
BMD measure at proximal femur was compared to the fractal
analysis, the latter, which is a non-invasive technique, allowed a
better discrimination; the results confirm that the fractal analysis of
texture on calcaneus radiographs is able to discriminate osteoporotic
patients with femoral fracture from controls. This discrimination was
efficient compared to that obtained by BMD alone. It was also
present in comparing subgroups with overlapping values of BMD.
Abstract: This paper applied factor conditions from Porter’s
Diamond Model (1990) to understand the various challenges facing
the AMISA. Factor conditions highlighted in Porter’s model are
grouped into two groups namely, basic and advance factors. Two
AMISA associations representing over 10 000 employees were
interviewed. The largest Clothing, Textiles and Leather (CTL)
apparel retail group was also interviewed with a government
department implementing the industrialization policy were
interviewed. The paper points out that AMISA have basic factor conditions
necessary for competitive advantage in the apparel industries.
However advance factor creation has proven to be a challenge for
AMISA, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and government. Poor
infrastructural maintenance has contributed to high manufacturing
costs and poor quick response technologies. The use of Porter’s
Factor Conditions as a tool to analyze the sector’s competitive
advantage challenges and opportunities has increased knowledge
regarding factors that limit the AMISA’s competitiveness. It is
therefore argued that other studies on Porter’s Diamond model
factors like Demand conditions, Firm strategy, structure and rivalry
and Related and supporting industries can be used to analyze the
situation of the AMISA for the purposes of improving competitive
advantage.