Abstract: In article are analyzed value of audiovisual sources which possesses high integrative potential and allows studying movement of information in the history - information movement from generation to the generation, in essence providing continuity of historical development and inheritance of traditions. Information thus fixed in them is considered as a source not only about last condition of society, but also significant for programming of its subsequent activity.
Abstract: Recently, a growing interest has emerged on the
development of new and efficient energy sources, due to the inevitable extinction of the nonrenewable energy reserves. One of
these alternative sources which has a great potential and sustainability to meet up the energy demand is biomass energy. This
significant energy source can be utilized with various energy
conversion technologies, one of which is biomass gasification in
supercritical water.
Water, being the most important solvent in nature, has very important characteristics as a reaction solvent under supercritical
circumstances. At temperatures above its critical point (374.8oC and
22.1 MPa), water becomes more acidic and its diffusivity increases.
Working with water at high temperatures increases the thermal
reaction rate, which in consequence leads to a better dissolving of the
organic matters and a fast reaction with oxygen. Hence, supercritical water offers a control mechanism depending on solubility, excellent
transport properties based on its high diffusion ability and new reaction possibilities for hydrolysis or oxidation.
In this study the gasification of a real biomass, namely olive mill
wastewater (OMW), in supercritical water is investigated with the
use of Pt/Al2O3 and Ni/Al2O3 catalysts. OMW is a by-product
obtained during olive oil production, which has a complex nature
characterized by a high content of organic compounds and
polyphenols. These properties impose OMW a significant pollution
potential, but at the same time, the high content of organics makes
OMW a desirable biomass candidate for energy production.
All of the catalytic gasification experiments were made with five
different reaction temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 and 600°C),
under a constant pressure of 25 MPa. For the experiments conducted
with Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, the effect of five reaction times (30, 60, 90,
120 and 150 s) was investigated. However, procuring that similar
gasification efficiencies could be obtained at shorter times, the experiments were made by using different reaction times (10, 15, 20,
25 and 30 s) for the case of Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. Through these experiments, the effects of temperature, time and catalyst type on the
gasification yields and treatment efficiencies were investigated.
Abstract: Thailand is the agriculture country as the weather and geography are suitable for agriculture environment. In 2011, the quantity of exported fresh vegetable was 126,069 tons which valued 117.1 million US dollars. Although the fresh vegetable has a high potential in exporting, there also have a lack of knowledge such as chemical usage, land usage, marketing and also the transportation and logistics. Nakorn Pathom province is the area which the farmer and manufacturer of fresh vegetable located. The objectives of this study are to study the basic information of the local fresh vegetable farmers in Nakorn Pathom province, to study the factor which effects the management of the fresh vegetable supply chain in Nakorn Pathom province and to study the problems and obstacle of the fresh vegetable supply chain in Nakorn Pathom province. This study is limited to the flow of the Nakorn Pathom province fresh vegetable from the farmers to the country which import the vegetable from Thailand. The populations of this study are 100 local farmers in Nakorn Pathom province. The result of this study shows that the key process of the fresh vegetable supply chain is in the supply sourcing process and manufacturing process.
Abstract: We propose a multi-agent based utilitarian approach
to model and understand information flows in social networks that
lead to Pareto optimal informational exchanges. We model the
individual expected utility function of the agents to reflect the net
value of information received. We show how this model, adapted
from a theorem by Karl Borch dealing with an actuarial Risk
Exchange concept in the Insurance industry, can be used for social
network analysis. We develop a utilitarian framework that allows us
to interpret Pareto optimal exchanges of value as potential
information flows, while achieving a maximization of a sum of
expected utilities of information of the group of agents. We examine
some interesting conditions on the utility function under which the
flows are optimal. We illustrate the promise of this new approach to
attach economic value to information in networks with a synthetic
example.
Abstract: Typically thermal power plants are located near to
surface coal mines that produce huge amount of fly ash as a waste
byproduct. Disposal of fly ash causes significant economic and
environmental problems. Now-a-days, research is going on for bulk
utilization of fly ash. In order to increase its percentage utilization, an
investigation was carried out to evaluate its potential for haul road
construction. This paper presents the laboratory California bearing
ratio (CBR) tests and evaluates the effect of lime on CBR behavior of
fly ash - mine overburden mixes. Tests were performed with different
percentages of lime (2%, 3%, 6%, and 9%). The results show that the
increase in bearing ratio of fly ash-overburden mixes was achieved
by lime treatment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses
were conducted on 28 days cured specimens. The SEM study showed
that the bearing ratio development is related to the microstructural
development.
Abstract: With the extensive inclusion of document, especially
text, in the business systems, data mining does not cover the full
scope of Business Intelligence. Data mining cannot deliver its impact
on extracting useful details from the large collection of unstructured
and semi-structured written materials based on natural languages.
The most pressing issue is to draw the potential business intelligence
from text. In order to gain competitive advantages for the business, it
is necessary to develop the new powerful tool, text mining, to expand
the scope of business intelligence.
In this paper, we will work out the strong points of text mining in
extracting business intelligence from huge amount of textual
information sources within business systems. We will apply text
mining to each stage of Business Intelligence systems to prove that
text mining is the powerful tool to expand the scope of BI. After
reviewing basic definitions and some related technologies, we will
discuss the relationship and the benefits of these to text mining. Some
examples and applications of text mining will also be given. The
motivation behind is to develop new approach to effective and
efficient textual information analysis. Thus we can expand the scope
of Business Intelligence using the powerful tool, text mining.
Abstract: A. niger XP isolated from Vietnam produces very low amount of acidic phytase with optimal pH at 2.5 and 5.5. The phytase production of this strain was successfully improved through gene cloning and expression. A 1.4 - kb DNA fragment containing the coding region of the phyA gene was amplified by PCR and inserted into the expression vector pPICZαA with a signal peptide α- factor, under the control of AOX1 promoter. The recombined plasmid was transformed into the host strain P. pastoris KM71H and X33 by electroporation. Both host strains could efficiently express and secret phytase. The multicopy strains were screened for over expression of phytase. All the selected multicopy strains of P. pastoris X33 were examined for phytase activity, the maximum phytase yield of 1329 IU/ml was obtained after 4 days of incubation in medium BMM. The recombinant protein with MW of 97.4 KW showed to be the only one protein secreted in the culture broth. Multicopy transformant P. pastoris X33 supposed to be potential candidate for producing the commercial preparation of phytase.
Abstract: Deployment of pneumatic muscles in various
industrial applications is still in its early days, considering the relative
newness of these components. The field of robotics holds particular
future potential for pneumatic muscles, especially in view of their
specific behaviour known as compliance. The paper presents and
discusses an innovative constructive solution for a gripper system
mountable on an industrial robot, based on actuation by a linear
pneumatic muscle and transmission of motion by gear and rack
mechanism. The structural, operational and constructive models of
the new gripper are presented, along with some of the experimental
results obtained subsequently to the testing of a prototype. Further
presented are two control variants of the gripper system, one by
means of a 3/2-way fast-switching solenoid valve, the other by means
of a proportional pressure regulator. Advantages and disadvantages
are discussed for both variants.
Abstract: Remarkable changes, like the progress in the ability to understand others' minds, can be identified in several socio-cognitive dimensions between age four and seven. Recently, the parenting attitudes have been considerate as one of the potential extrinsic modifiers of these important developmental aspects. The aim of present study is to explore the relationship among authoritarian parenting attitudes and individual differences in Theory of Mind performance. The study included ninety-two Costarrican preschoolers. Six False-belief tasks, an Advanced Theory of Mind test and the Parenting Attitudes Inventory were used. The results demonstrate that participants with high and low Authoritarian Parenting Received differ in their performance on First and Second Order False-belief tasks, but not in Advanced Theory of Mind tasks. Theoretical considerations about possible explanations regarding these results are discussed and methodological limitations are considered to shed light over future directions.
Abstract: A talking head system (THS) is presented to animate
the face of a speaking 3D avatar in such a way that it realistically
pronounces the given Korean text. The proposed system consists of
SAPI compliant text-to-speech (TTS) engine and MPEG-4 compliant
face animation generator. The input to the THS is a unicode text that is
to be spoken with synchronized lip shape. The TTS engine generates a
phoneme sequence with their duration and audio data. The TTS
applies the coarticulation rules to the phoneme sequence and sends a
mouth animation sequence to the face modeler. The proposed THS can
make more natural lip sync and facial expression by using the face
animation generator than those using the conventional visemes only.
The experimental results show that our system has great potential for
the implementation of talking head for Korean text.
Abstract: The present study is aim to prepare and evaluate the selfnanoemulsifying drug delivery (SNEDDS) system of a poorly water soluble drug valsartan in order to achieve a better dissolution rate which would further help in enhancing oral bioavailability. The present research work describes a SNEDDS of valsartan using labrafil M 1944 CS, Tween 80 and Transcutol HP. The pseudoternary phase diagrams with presence and absence of drug were plotted to check for the emulsification range and also to evaluate the effect of valsartan on the emulsification behavior of the phases. The mixtures consisting of oil (labrafil M 1944 CS) with surfactant (tween 80), co-surfactant (Transcutol HP) were found to be optimum formulations. Prepared formulations were evaluated for its particle size distribution, nanoemulsifying properties, robustness to dilution, self emulsication time, turbidity measurement, drug content and invitro dissolution. The optimized formulations are further evaluated for heating cooling cycle, centrifugation studies, freeze thaw cycling, particle size distribution and zeta potential were carried out to confirm the stability of the formed SNEDDS formulations. The prepared formulation revealed t a significant improvement in terms of the drug solubility as compared with marketed tablet and pure drug.
Abstract: This paper shows the results of empirical research. It
presents experiences of Polish companies from the Podkarpackie
voivodeship connected with implementing EMS according to the
requirements of the ISO 14001 international standard. The incentives
to introduce and certify organizational eco-innovation, which formal
EMSs are treated as, are presented in this paper.
Abstract: This paper presents an algorithm to estimate the parameters of two closely spaced sinusoids, providing a frequency resolution that is more than 800 times greater than that obtained by using the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). The strategy uses a highly optimized grid search approach to accurately estimate frequency, amplitude and phase of both sinusoids, keeping at the same time the computational effort at reasonable levels. The proposed method has three main characteristics: 1) a high frequency resolution; 2) frequency, amplitude and phase are all estimated at once using one single package; 3) it does not rely on any statistical assumption or constraint. Potential applications to this strategy include the difficult task of resolving coincident partials of instruments in musical signals.
Abstract: Location-based services (LBS) exploit the known
location of a user to provide services dependent on their geographic
context and personalized needs [1].
The development and arrival of broadband mobile data networks
supported with mobile terminals equipped with new location
technologies like GPS have finally created opportunities for
implementation of LBS applications. But, from the other side,
collecting location information data in general raises privacy
concerns.
This paper presents results from two surveys of LBS acceptance in
Croatia. The first survey was administered on 181 students, and the
second extended survey involved pattern of 180 Croatian citizens.
We developed questionnaire which consists of descriptions of 15
different applications with scale which measures perceptions and
attitudes of users towards these applications.
We report the results to identify potential commercial applications
for LBS in B2C segment. Our findings suggest that some types of
applications like emergency&safety services and navigation have
significantly higher rate of acceptance than other types.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the
controversial subject of tax incentives to promote regional
development. Although extensive research has been conducted, a
review of the literature gives an inconclusive answer to whether
economic incentives are effective. One reason is the fact that for
some researchers “effective" means the significant location of new
firms in targeted areas, while for others the creation of jobs
regardless if new firms are arriving in a significant fashion. We
present this dichotomy by analyzing a tax incentive program via both
alternatives: location and job creation. The contribution of the paper
is to inform policymakers about the potential opportunities and
pitfalls when designing incentive strategies. This is particularly
relevant, given that both the US and Europe have been promoting
incentives as a tool for regional economic development.
Abstract: The Kowsar dam supply water for different usages
such as drinking, industrial, agricultural and aquaculture farms
usages and located next to the city of Dehdashat in Kohgiluye and
Boyerahmad province in southern Iran. There are some towns and
villages on the Kowsar dam watersheds, which Dehdasht and Choram
are the most important and populated cities in this area. The study
was undertaken to assess the status of water quality in the urban areas
of the Kowsar dam. A total of 28 water samples were collected from
6 stations on surface water and 1 station from groundwater on the
watershed of the Kowsar dam. All the samples were analyzed for Ni
concentration using standard procedures. The results were compared
with other national and international standards. Among the analyzed
samples, as the maximum value of Nickel (0.01 mg/L) was observed
on the station 2 at the autumn 2010, all the samples analyzed were
within the maximum admissible limits by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency, EU, WHO and the Iranian. In
general results of the present study have shown that a Ni mean value
of station No. 2 with 0.006 mg/L is higher than the other stations. Ni
level of all samples and stations have had normal values and this is an
indication of pollution potential and hazards because of human
activity and waste water of towns in the areas, which can effect on
human health implications in future. This research, therefore,
recommends the government and other responsible authorities to take
suitable improving measures in the Kowsar dam watersheds.
Abstract: Very few studies have examined performance
implications of strategic alliance announcements in the information
technologies industry from a resource-based view. Furthermore, none
of these studies have investigated resource congruence and alliance
motive as potential sources of abnormal firm performance. This paper
extends upon current resource-based literature to discover and explore
linkages between these concepts and the practical performance of
strategic alliances. This study finds that strategic alliance
announcements have provided overall abnormal positive returns, and
that marketing alliances with marketing resource incongruence have
also contributed to significant firm performance.
Abstract: This paper presents the outcomes of a qualitative
study which aims to investigate the pedagogical potentials of serious
games in the preparation of future teachers. The authors discuss the
existing problems and barriers associated with the organization of
teaching practices in Bulgaria as part of the pre-service teacher
training, as well as the attitudes and perceptions of the interviewed
academics, teachers and trainees concerning the integration of serious
games in the teaching practicum. The study outcomes strongly
confirm the positive attitudes of the respondents to the introduction
of virtual learning environments for the development of professional
skills of future teachers as a supplement to the traditional forms of
education. Through the inclusion of serious games it is expected to
improve the quality of practical training of pre-service teachers as
they overcome many of the problems identified in the existing
teaching practices. The outcomes of the study will inform the design
of the educational simulation software which is part of the project
SimAula Tomorrow's Teachers Training.
Abstract: In the analysis of structures, the nonlinear effects due to large displacement, large rotation and materially-nonlinear are very important and must be considered for the reliable analysis. The non-linear fmite element analysis has potential as usable and reliable means for analyzing of civil structures with the availability of computer technology. In this research the large displacements and materially nonlinear behavior of shear wall is presented with developing of fmite element code using the standard Galerkin weighted residual formulation. Two-dimensional plane stress model was carried out to present the shear wall response. Total Lagangian formulation, which is computationally more effective, is used in the formulation of stiffness matrices and the Newton-Raphson method is applied for the solution of nonlinear transient equations. The details of the program formulation are highlighted and the results of the analyses are presented, along with a comparison of the response of the structure with Ansys software results. The presented model in this paper can be developed for nonlinear analysis of civil engineering structures with different material behavior and complicated geometry.
Abstract: Several different cements have been tested to evaluate
their potential to leach calcium, chromium and aluminum ions in soft
water environment. The research allows comparing some different
cements in order to the potential risk of water contamination. This
can be done only in the same environment. To reach the results in
reasonable short time intervals and to make heavy metals
measurements with high accuracy, demineralized water was used. In
this case the conditions of experiments are far away from the water
supply practice, but short time experiments and measurably high
concentrations of elements in the water solution are an important
advantage. Moreover leaching mechanisms can be recognized, our
experiments reported here refer to this kind of cements evaluation.