Abstract: The main aim of the current study was to examine the
effect of emotional intelligence on retention. The study also aimed at
analyzing the role of job involvement, as a moderator, in the effect of
emotional intelligence on retention. Using data gathered from 241
employees working with hotels and tourism corporations listed in
Amman Stock Exchange in Jordan, emotional intelligence, job
involvement and retention were measured. Hierarchical regression
analyses were used to test the three main hypotheses. Results
indicated that retention was related to emotional intelligence.
Moreover, the study yielded support for the claim that job
involvement had a moderating effect on the relationship between
emotional intelligence and retention.
Abstract: This purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a
model to accurately predict the cell temperature of a PV module that
adapts to various mounting configurations, mounting locations, and
climates while only requiring readily available data from the module
manufacturer. Results from this model are also compared to results
from published cell temperature models. The models were used to
predict real-time performance from a PV water pumping systems in
the desert of Medenine, south of Tunisia using 60-min intervals of
measured performance data during one complete year. Statistical
analysis of the predicted results and measured data highlight possible
sources of errors and the limitations and/or adequacy of existing
models, to describe the temperature and efficiency of PV-cells and
consequently, the accuracy of performance of PV water pumping
systems prediction models.
Abstract: Knowledge development in companies relies on
knowledge-intensive business processes, which are characterized by
a high complexity in their execution, weak structuring,
communication-oriented tasks and high decision autonomy, and often the need for creativity and innovation. A foundation of knowledge development is provided, which is based on a new conception of
knowledge and knowledge dynamics. This conception consists of a three-dimensional model of knowledge with types, kinds and qualities. Built on this knowledge conception, knowledge dynamics is
modeled with the help of general knowledge conversions between
knowledge assets. Here knowledge dynamics is understood to cover
all of acquisition, conversion, transfer, development and usage of
knowledge. Through this conception we gain a sound basis for
knowledge management and development in an enterprise. Especially
the type dimension of knowledge, which categorizes it according to
its internality and externality with respect to the human being, is crucial for enterprise knowledge management and development,
because knowledge should be made available by converting it to
more external types.
Built on this conception, a modeling approach for knowledgeintensive
business processes is introduced, be it human-driven,e-driven or task-driven processes. As an example for this approach, a model of the creative activity for the renewal planning of
a product is given.
Abstract: In this paper, the dynamics of a system of two van der Pol oscillators with delayed position and velocity is studied. We provide an approximate solution for this system using parameterexpansion method. Also, we obtain approximate values for frequencies of the system. The parameter-expansion method is more efficient than the perturbation method for this system because the method is independent of perturbation parameter assumption.
Abstract: This paper presents an optimized methodology to
folded cascode operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) design.
The design is done in different regions of operation, weak inversion,
strong inversion and moderate inversion using the gm/ID methodology
in order to optimize MOS transistor sizing.
Using 0.35μm CMOS process, the designed folded cascode OTA
achieves a DC gain of 77.5dB and a unity-gain frequency of 430MHz
in strong inversion mode. In moderate inversion mode, it has a 92dB
DC gain and provides a gain bandwidth product of around 69MHz.
The OTA circuit has a DC gain of 75.5dB and unity-gain frequency
limited to 19.14MHZ in weak inversion region.
Abstract: One major issue that is regularly cited as a block to
the widespread use of online assessments in eLearning, is that of the
authentication of the student and the level of confidence that an
assessor can have that the assessment was actually completed by that
student. Currently, this issue is either ignored, in which case
confidence in the assessment and any ensuing qualification is
damaged, or else assessments are conducted at central, controlled
locations at specified times, losing the benefits of the distributed
nature of the learning programme. Particularly as we move towards
constructivist models of learning, with intentions towards achieving
heutagogic learning environments, the benefits of a properly
managed online assessment system are clear. Here we discuss some
of the approaches that could be adopted to address these issues,
looking at the use of existing security and biometric techniques,
combined with some novel behavioural elements. These approaches
offer the opportunity to validate the student on accessing an
assessment, on submission, and also during the actual production of
the assessment. These techniques are currently under development in
the DECADE project, and future work will evaluate and report their
use..
Abstract: Electrocardiogram (ECG) segmentation is necessary to help reduce the time consuming task of manually annotating ECG's. Several algorithms have been developed to segment the ECG automatically. We first review several of such methods, and then present a new single lead segmentation method based on Adaptive piecewise constant approximation (APCA) and Piecewise derivative dynamic time warping (PDDTW). The results are tested on the QT database. We compared our results to Laguna's two lead method. Our proposed approach has a comparable mean error, but yields a slightly higher standard deviation than Laguna's method.
Abstract: In present study the effects of anti-inflammatory and
antinociceptive of vitex hydro-alcoholic extract were evaluated on
male mice. In inflammatory test mice were divided into 7 groups:
first group was control. The second group, positive control group,
received dexamethasone (15 mg/kg) and the other five groups
received different doses of hydroalcohol extract of Vitex fruit (265,
365, 465, 565, and 665 mg/kg). The inflammation was caused by
xylene-induced ear edema. Formalin test was used for evaluation of
antinociceptive effect of extract. In this test, mice were divided into 7
groups: control, morphine (10mg/kg) as positive control group, and
Vitex extract groups ((265, 365, 465, 565, and 665 mg/kg). All drugs
were administered intrapritoneally, 30 min before each test. The data
were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey-kramer
multiple comparison test. Results have shown significant antiinflammatory
effects of extract at all dosed as compared with control
(P
Abstract: Solid state fermentation of cassava peel with emphasis on protein enrichment using Trichoderma viride was evaluated. The effect of five variables: moisture content, pH, particle size (p), nitrogen source and incubation temperature; on the true protein and total sugars of cassava peel was investigated. The optimum fermentation period was established to be 8 days. Total sugars were 5-fold higher at pH 6 relative to pH 4 and 7-fold higher when cassava peels were fermented at 30oC relative to 25oC as well as using ammonium sulfate as the nitrogen source relative to urea or a combination of both. Total sugars ranged between 123.21mg/g at 50% initial moisture content to 374mg/g at 60% and from 190.59mg/g with particle size range of 2.00>p>1.41mm to 310.10mg/g with 4.00>p>3.35mm.True protein ranged from 229.70 mg/g at pH 4 to 284.05 mg/g at pH 6; from 200.87 mg/g with urea as nitrogen source and to 254.50mg/g with ammonium sulfate; from 213.82mg/g at 50% initial moisture content to 254.50mg/g at 60% moisture content, from 205.75mg/g in cassava peel with 5.6>p> 4.75mm to 268.30 in cassava peel with particle size 4.00>p>3.35mm, from 207.57mg/g at 25oC to 254.50mg/g at 30oC Cassava peel with particle size 4.00>p>3.35 mm and initial moisture content of 60% at pH 6.0, 30oC incubation temperature with ammonium sulfate (10g N / kg substrate) was most suitable for protein enrichment with Trichoderma viride. Crude protein increased from 4.21 % in unfermented cassava peel samples to 10.43 % in fermented samples.
Abstract: “Garbage enzyme", a fermentation product of kitchen waste, water and brown sugar, is claimed in the media as a multipurpose solution for household and agricultural uses. This study assesses the effects of dilutions (5% to 75%) of garbage enzyme in reducing pollutants in domestic wastewater. The pH of the garbage enzyme was found to be 3.5, BOD concentration about 150 mg/L. Test results showed that the garbage enzyme raised the wastewater-s BOD in proportion to its dilution due to its high organic content. For mixtures with more than 10% garbage enzyme, its pH remained acidic after the 5-day digestion period. However, it seems that ammonia nitrogen and phosphorus could be removed by the addition of the garbage enzyme. The most economic solution for removal of ammonia nitrogen and phosphorus was found to be 9%. Further tests are required to understand the removal mechanisms of the ammonia nitrogen and phosphorus.
Abstract: The research objective of the project and article “The impact of Structural Funds on the growth of competitiveness of Polish agriculture" is to assess competitiveness of regions in Poland from the perspective of Polish agriculture by analysing the efficiency of the use of Structural Funds, the economic procedure of their distribution and the regulatory and organisational framework under the Rural Development Programme (RDP). It must be stressed that defining the scope of research in the above manner limits the analysis only to the part of Structural Funds directed to support Polish agriculture.
Abstract: A novel thermo-sensitive superabsorbent hydrogel
with salt- and pH-responsiveness properties was obtained by grafting
of mixtures of acrylic acid (AA) and N-isopropylacrylamide
(NIPAM) monomers onto kappa-carrageenan, kC, using ammonium
persulfate (APS) as a free radical initiator in the presence of
methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. Infrared
spectroscopy was carried out to confirm the chemical structure of the
hydrogel. Moreover, morphology of the samples was examined by
scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of MBA
concentration and AA/NIPAM weight ratio on the water absorbency
capacity has been investigated. The swelling variations of hydrogels
were explained according to swelling theory based on the hydrogel
chemical structure. The hydrogels exhibited salt-sensitivity and
cation exchange properties. The temperature- and pH-reversibility
properties of the hydrogels make the intelligent polymers as good
candidates for considering as potential carriers for bioactive agents,
e.g. drugs.
Abstract: In the present study, fracture behavior of woven
fabric-reinforced glass/epoxy composite laminates under mode III
crack growth was experimentally investigated and numerically
modeled. Two methods were used for the calculation of the strain
energy release rate: the experimental compliance calibration (CC)
method and the Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT). To
achieve this aim ECT (Edge Crack Torsion) was used to evaluate
fracture toughness in mode III loading (out of plane-shear) at
different crack lengths. Load–displacement and associated energy
release rates were obtained for various case of interest. To
calculate fracture toughness JIII, two criteria were considered
including non-linearity and maximum points in load-displacement
curve and it is observed that JIII increases with the crack length
increase. Both the experimental compliance method and the virtual
crack closure technique proved applicable for the interpretation of the
fracture mechanics data of woven glass/epoxy laminates in mode III.
Abstract: The purposes of this research are to study and develop
the algorithm of Thai spoonerism words by semi-automatic computer
programs, that is to say, in part of data input, syllables are already
separated and in part of spoonerism, the developed algorithm is
utilized, which can establish rules and mechanisms in Thai
spoonerism words for bi-syllables by utilizing analysis in elements of
the syllables, namely cluster consonant, vowel, intonation mark and
final consonant. From the study, it is found that bi-syllable Thai
spoonerism has 1 case of spoonerism mechanism, namely
transposition in value of vowel, intonation mark and consonant of
both 2 syllables but keeping consonant value and cluster word (if
any).
From the study, the rules and mechanisms in Thai spoonerism
word were applied to develop as Thai spoonerism word software,
utilizing PHP program. the software was brought to conduct a
performance test on software execution; it is found that the program
performs bi-syllable Thai spoonerism correctly or 99% of all words
used in the test and found faults on the program at 1% as the words
obtained from spoonerism may not be spelling in conformity with
Thai grammar and the answer in Thai spoonerism could be more than
1 answer.
Abstract: A large number of chemical, bio-chemical and pollution-control processes use heterogeneous fixed-bed reactors. The use of finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellets can enhance conversion levels in such reactors. The absence of the pellet core can significantly lower the diffusional resistance associated with the solid phase. This leads to a better utilization of the catalytic material, which is reflected in the higher values for the effectiveness factor, leading ultimately to an enhanced conversion level in the reactor. It is however important to develop a rigorous heterogeneous model for the reactor incorporating the two-dimensional feature of the solid phase owing to the presence of the finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellet. Presently, heterogeneous models reported in the literature invariably employ one-dimension solid phase models meant for spherical catalyst pellets. The objective of the paper is to present a rigorous model of the fixed-bed reactors containing finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellets. The reaction kinetics considered here is the widely used Michaelis–Menten kinetics for the liquid-phase bio-chemical reactions. The reaction parameters used here are for the enzymatic degradation of urea. Results indicate that increasing the height to diameter ratio helps to improve the conversion level. On the other hand, decreasing the thickness is apparently not as effective. This could however be explained in terms of the higher void fraction of the bed that causes a smaller amount of the solid phase to be packed in the fixed-bed bio-chemical reactor.
Abstract: Vehicle suspension design must fulfill
some conflicting criteria. Among those is ride comfort
which is attained by minimizing the acceleration
transmitted to the sprung mass, via suspension spring
and damper. Also good handling of a vehicle is a
desirable property which requires stiff suspension and
therefore is in contrast with a vehicle with good ride.
Among the other desirable features of a suspension is
the minimization of the maximum travel of suspension.
This travel which is called suspension working space in
vehicle dynamics literature is also a design constraint
and it favors good ride. In this research a full car 8
degrees of freedom model has been developed and the
three above mentioned criteria, namely: ride, handling
and working space has been adopted as objective
functions. The Multi Objective Programming (MOP)
discipline has been used to find the Pareto Front and
some reasoning used to chose a design point between
these non dominated points of Pareto Front.
Abstract: This paper aims to develop an algorithm of finite
capacity material requirement planning (FCMRP) system for a multistage
assembly flow shop. The developed FCMRP system has two
main stages. The first stage is to allocate operations to the first and
second priority work centers and also determine the sequence of the
operations on each work center. The second stage is to determine the
optimal start time of each operation by using a linear programming
model. Real data from a factory is used to analyze and evaluate the
effectiveness of the proposed FCMRP system and also to guarantee a
practical solution to the user. There are five performance measures,
namely, the total tardiness, the number of tardy orders, the total
earliness, the number of early orders, and the average flow-time. The
proposed FCMRP system offers an adjustable solution which is a
compromised solution among the conflicting performance measures.
The user can adjust the weight of each performance measure to
obtain the desired performance. The result shows that the combination
of FCMRP NP3 and EDD outperforms other combinations
in term of overall performance index. The calculation time for the
proposed FCMRP system is about 10 minutes which is practical for
the planners of the factory.
Abstract: with increasing circuits- complexity and demand to
use portable devices, power consumption is one of the most
important parameters these days. Full adders are the basic block of
many circuits. Therefore reducing power consumption in full adders
is very important in low power circuits. One of the most powerconsuming
modules in full adders is XOR/XNOR circuit. This paper
presents two new full adders based on two new logic approaches. The
proposed logic approaches use one XOR or XNOR gate to implement
a full adder cell. Therefore, delay and power will be decreased. Using
two new approaches and two XOR and XNOR gates, two new full
adders have been implemented in this paper. Simulations are carried
out by HSPICE in 0.18μm bulk technology with 1.8V supply voltage.
The results show that the ten-transistors proposed full adder has 12%
less power consumption and is 5% faster in comparison to MB12T
full adder. 9T is more efficient in area and is 24% better than similar
10T full adder in term of power consumption. The main drawback of
the proposed circuits is output threshold loss problem.
Abstract: This paper presents a new feature based dense stereo
matching algorithm to obtain the dense disparity map via dynamic
programming. After extraction of some proper features, we use some
matching constraints such as epipolar line, disparity limit, ordering
and limit of directional derivative of disparity as well. Also, a coarseto-
fine multiresolution strategy is used to decrease the search space
and therefore increase the accuracy and processing speed. The
proposed method links the detected feature points into the chains and
compares some of the feature points from different chains, to
increase the matching speed. We also employ color stereo matching
to increase the accuracy of the algorithm. Then after feature
matching, we use the dynamic programming to obtain the dense
disparity map. It differs from the classical DP methods in the stereo
vision, since it employs sparse disparity map obtained from the
feature based matching stage. The DP is also performed further on a
scan line, between any matched two feature points on that scan line.
Thus our algorithm is truly an optimization method. Our algorithm
offers a good trade off in terms of accuracy and computational
efficiency. Regarding the results of our experiments, the proposed
algorithm increases the accuracy from 20 to 70%, and reduces the
running time of the algorithm almost 70%.
Abstract: In the power quality analysis non-stationary nature
of voltage distortions require some precise and powerful analytical
techniques. The time-frequency representation (TFR) provides a
powerful method for identification of the non-stationary of the
signals. This paper investigates a comparative study on two
techniques for analysis and visualization of voltage distortions with
time-varying amplitudes. The techniques include the Discrete
Wavelet Transform (DWT), and the S-Transform. Several power
quality problems are analyzed using both the discrete wavelet
transform and S–transform, showing clearly the advantage of the S–
transform in detecting, localizing, and classifying the power quality
problems.