Abstract: Mammalian genomes contain large number of
retroelements (SINEs, LINEs and LTRs) which could affect
expression of protein coding genes through associated transcription
factor binding sites (TFBS). Activity of the retroelement-associated
TFBS in many genes is confirmed experimentally but their global
functional impact remains unclear. Human SINEs (Alu repeats) and
mouse SINEs (B1 and B2 repeats) are known to be clustered in GCrich
gene rich genome segments consistent with the view that they
can contribute to regulation of gene expression. We have shown
earlier that Alu are involved in formation of cis-regulatory modules
(clusters of TFBS) in human promoters, and other authors reported
that Alu located near promoter CpG islands have an increased
frequency of CpG dinucleotides suggesting that these Alu are
undermethylated. Human Alu and mouse B1/B2 elements have an
internal bipartite promoter for RNA polymerase III containing
conserved sequence motif called B-box which can bind basal
transcription complex TFIIIC. It has been recently shown that TFIIIC
binding to B-box leads to formation of a boundary which limits
spread of repressive chromatin modifications in S. pombe. SINEassociated
B-boxes may have similar function but conservation of
TFIIIC binding sites in SINEs located near mammalian promoters
has not been studied earlier. Here we analysed abundance and
distribution of retroelements (SINEs, LINEs and LTRs) in annotated
sequences of the Database of mammalian transcription start sites
(DBTSS). Fractions of SINEs in human and mouse promoters are
slightly lower than in all genome but >40% of human and mouse
promoters contain Alu or B1/B2 elements within -1000 to +200 bp
interval relative to transcription start site (TSS). Most of these SINEs
is associated with distal segments of promoters (-1000 to -200 bp
relative to TSS) indicating that their insertion at distances >200 bp
upstream of TSS is tolerated during evolution. Distribution of SINEs
in promoters correlates negatively with the distribution of CpG
sequences. Using analysis of abundance of 12-mer motifs from the
B1 and Alu consensus sequences in genome and DBTSS it has been
confirmed that some subsegments of Alu and B1 elements are poorly
conserved which depends in part on the presence of CpG
dinucleotides. One of these CpG-containing subsegments in B1
elements overlaps with SINE-associated B-box and it shows better
conservation in DBTSS compared to genomic sequences. It has been
also studied conservation in DBTSS and genome of the B-box
containing segments of old (AluJ, AluS) and young (AluY) Alu
repeats and found that CpG sequence of the B-box of old Alu is
better conserved in DBTSS than in genome. This indicates that Bbox-
associated CpGs in promoters are better protected from
methylation and mutation than B-box-associated CpGs in genomic
SINEs. These results are consistent with the view that potential
TFIIIC binding motifs in SINEs associated with human and mouse
promoters may be functionally important. These motifs may protect
promoters from repressive histone modifications which spread from
adjacent sequences. This can potentially explain well known
clustering of SINEs in GC-rich gene rich genome compartments and
existence of unmethylated CpG islands.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the possible
use of commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software in
the design process of a domestic gas boiler. Because of the limited
computational resources some simplifications had to be made in
order to contribute to the design in a reasonable timescale.
The porous media model was used in order to simulate the
influence of the pressure drop characteristic of particular elements of
a heat transfer system on the water-flow distribution in the system.
Further, a combination of CFD analyses and spread sheet
calculations was used in order to solve the flow distribution problem.
Abstract: Abovepresented work deals with the new scope of application of information and communication technologies for the improvement of the election process in the biased environment. We are introducing a new concept of construction of the information-communication system for the election participant. It consists of four main components: Software, Physical Infrastructure, Structured Information and the Trained Stuff. The Structured Information is the bases of the whole system and is the collection of all possible events (irregularities among them) at the polling stations, which are structured in special templates, forms and integrated in mobile devices.The software represents a package of analytic modules, which operates with the dynamic database. The application of modern communication technologies facilities the immediate exchange of information and of relevant documents between the polling stations and the Server of the participant. No less important is the training of the staff for the proper functioning of the system. The e-training system with various modules should be applied in this respect. The presented methodology is primarily focused on the election processes in the countries of emerging democracies.It can be regarded as the tool for the monitoring of elections process by the political organization(s) and as one of the instruments to foster the spread of democracy in these countries.
Abstract: This research was to study on background and social
and cultural context of Kamchanoad community for sustainable
tourism management. All data was collected through in-depth
interview with village headmen, community committees, teacher,
monks, Kamchanoad forest field officers and respected senior citizen
above 60 years old in the community who have lived there for more
than 40 years. Altogether there were 30 participants for this research.
After analyzing the data, content from interview and discussion,
Kamchanoad has both high land and low land in the region as well as
swamps that are very capable of freshwater animals’ conservation.
Kamchanoad is also good for agriculture and animal farming. 80% of
Kamchanoad’s land are forest, freshwater and rice farms.
Kamchanoad was officially set up as community in 1994 as “Baan
Nonmuang”. Inhabitants in Kamchanoad make a living by farming
based on sufficiency economy. They have rice farm, eucalyptus farm,
cassava farm and rubber tree farm. Local people in Kamchanoad still
believe in the myth of Srisutto Naga. They are still religious and love
to preserve their traditional way of life. In order to understand how to
create successful tourism business in Kamchanoad, we have to study
closely on local culture and traditions. Outstanding event in
Kamchanoad is the worship of Grand Srisutto, which is on the fullmoon
day of 6th month or Visakhabucha Day. Other big events are
also celebration at the end of Buddhist lent, Naga firework, New
Year celebration, Boon Mahachart, Songkran, Buddhist Lent, Boon
Katin and Loy Kratong. Buddhism is the main religion in
Kamchanoad. The promotion of tourism in Kamchanoad is expected
to help spreading more income for this region. More infrastructures
will be provided for local people as well as funding for youth support
and people activities.
Abstract: Intelligent Transportation System integrates various modern advanced technologies into the ground transportation system, and it will be the goal of urban transport system in the future because of its comprehensive effects. However, it also brings some problems, such as project performance assessment, fairness of benefiting groups, fund management, which are directly related to its operation and implementation. Wuhan has difficulties in organizing transportation because of its nature feature (river and lake), therefore, calling Service of Taxi plays an important role in transportation. This paper researches on calling Service of Taxi in Wuhan, based on quantitative and qualitative analysis. It analyzes its operations management systematically, including business model, finance, usage analysis and users evaluation. As for business model, it is that the government leads the operation at the initial stage, and the third part dominates the operation at the mature stage, which not only eases the pressure of the third part and benefits the spread of the calling service at the initial stage, but also alleviates financial pressure of government and improve the efficiency of the operation at the mature stage. As for finance, it draws that this service will bring heavy financial burden of equipments, but it will be alleviated in the future because of its spread. As for usage analysis, through data comparison, this service can bring some benefits for taxi drivers, and time and spatial distribution of usage have certain features. As for user evaluation, it analyzes using group and the reason why choosing it. At last, according to the analysis above, the paper puts forward the potentials, limitations, and future development strategies for it.
Abstract: In this paper, an adaptive polarized Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output (MIMO) Multicarrier Spread Spectrum Code Division Multiple Access (MC-SS-CDMA) system is designed for downlink mobile communications. The proposed system will be
examined in Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode for both macro urban and suburban environments. For the same transmission
bandwidth, a performance comparison between both nonoverlapped and orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) schemes will be presented. Also, the proposed system will be compared with
both the closed loop vertical MIMO MC-SS-CDMA system and the
synchronous vertical STBC-MIMO MC-SS-CDMA system. As will
be shown, the proposed system introduces a significant performance
gain as well as reducing the spatial dimensions of the MIMO system
and simplifying the receiver implementation. The effect of the
polarization diversity characteristics on the BER performance will be
discussed. Also, the impact of excluding the cross-polarization MCSS-
CDMA blocks in the base station will be investigated. In addition,
the system performance will be evaluated under different Feedback
Information (FBI) rates for slowly-varying channels. Finally, a
performance comparison for vehicular and pedestrian environments
will be presented
Abstract: In the context of spectrum surveillance, a method to
recover the code of spread spectrum signal is presented, whereas the
receiver has no knowledge of the transmitter-s spreading sequence.
The approach is based on a genetic algorithm (GA), which is forced to
model the received signal. Genetic algorithms (GAs) are well known
for their robustness in solving complex optimization problems.
Experimental results show that the method provides a good
estimation, even when the signal power is below the noise power.
Abstract: Worm propagation profiles have significantly changed
since 2003-2004: sudden world outbreaks like Blaster or Slammer
have progressively disappeared and slower but stealthier worms
appeared since, most of them for botnets dissemination. Decreased
worm virulence results in more difficult detection.
In this paper, we describe a stealth worm propagation model
which has been extensively simulated and analysed on a huge virtual
network. The main features of this model is its ability to infect any
Internet-like network in a few seconds, whatever may be its size while
greatly limiting the reinfection attempt overhead of already infected
hosts. The main simulation results shows that the combinatorial
topology of routing may have a huge impact on the worm propagation
and thus some servers play a more essential and significant role than
others. The real-time capability to identify them may be essential to
greatly hinder worm propagation.
Abstract: This paper investigates the problem of spreading
sequence and receiver code synchronization techniques for satellite
based CDMA communications systems. The performance of CDMA
system depends on the autocorrelation and cross-correlation
properties of the used spreading sequences. In this paper we propose
the uses of chaotic Lu system to generate binary sequences for
spreading codes in a direct sequence spread CDMA system. To
minimize multiple access interference (MAI) we propose the use of
genetic algorithm for optimum selection of chaotic spreading
sequences. To solve the problem of transmitter-receiver
synchronization, we use the passivity controls. The concept of
semipassivity is defined to find simple conditions which ensure
boundedness of the solutions of coupled Lu systems. Numerical
results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed
approach.
Abstract: Since the advent of the information era, the Internet has
brought various positive effects in everyday life. Nevertheless,
recently, problems and side-effects have been noted. Internet
witch-trials and spread of pornography are only a few of these
problems.In this study, problems and causes of malicious replies on
internet boards were analyzed, using the key ideas of game theory. The
study provides a mathematical model for the internet reply game to
devise three possible plans that could efficiently counteract malicious
replies. Furthermore, seven specific measures that comply with one of
the three plans were proposed and evaluated according to the
importance and utility of each measure using the orthogonal array
survey and SPSS conjoint analysis.The conclusion was that the most
effective measure would be forbidding unsigned user access to
malicious replies. Also notable was that some analytically proposed
measures, when implemented, could backfire and encourage malicious
replies.
Abstract: Overloading is a technique to accommodate more
number of users than the spreading factor N. This is a bandwidth
efficient scheme to increase the number users in a fixed bandwidth.
One of the efficient schemes to overload a CDMA system is to use
two sets of orthogonal signal waveforms (O/O). The first set is
assigned to the N users and the second set is assigned to the
additional M users. An iterative interference cancellation technique is
used to cancel interference between the two sets of users. In this
paper, the performance of an overloading scheme in which the first N
users are assigned Walsh-Hadamard orthogonal codes and extra users
are assigned the same WH codes but overlaid by a fixed (quasi) bent
sequence [11] is evaluated. This particular scheme is called Quasi-
Orthogonal Sequence (QOS) O/O scheme, which is a part of
cdma2000 standard [12] to provide overloading in the downlink
using single user detector. QOS scheme are balance O/O scheme,
where the correlation between any set-1 and set-2 users are
equalized. The allowable overload of this scheme is investigated in
the uplink on an AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels, so that the
uncoded performance with iterative multistage interference
cancellation detector remains close to the single user bound. It is
shown that this scheme provides 19% and 11% overloading with
SDIC technique for N= 16 and 64 respectively, with an SNR
degradation of less than 0.35 dB as compared to single user bound at
a BER of 0.00001. But on a Rayleigh fading channel, the channel
overloading is 45% (29 extra users) at a BER of 0.0005, with an SNR
degradation of about 1 dB as compared to single user performance
for N=64. This is a significant amount of channel overloading on a
Rayleigh fading channel.
Abstract: The growing health hazardous impact of arsenic (As)
contamination in environment is the impetus of the present
investigation. Application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) for the
removal of toxic and heavy metals from water has been reported.
This study was performed in order to isolate and characterize the Asresistant
LAB from mud and sludge samples for using as efficient As
uptaking probiotic. Isolation of As-resistant LAB colonies was
performed by spread plate technique using bromocresol purple
impregnated-MRS (BP-MRS) agar media provided with As @ 50
μg/ml. Isolated LAB were employed for probiotic characterization
process, acid and bile tolerance, lactic acid production, antibacterial
activity and antibiotic tolerance assays. After As-resistant and
removal characterizations, the LAB were identified using 16S rDNA
sequencing. A total of 103 isolates were identified as As-resistant
strains of LAB. The survival of 6 strains (As99-1, As100-2, As101-3,
As102-4, As105-7, and As112-9) was found after passing through the
sequential probiotic characterizations. Resistant pattern pronounced
hollow zones at As concentration >2000 μg/ml in As99-1, As100-2,
and As101-3 LAB strains, whereas it was found at ~1000 μg/ml in
rest 3 strains. Among 6 strains, the As uptake efficiency of As102-4
(0.006 μg/h/mg wet weight of cell) was higher (17 – 209%)
compared to remaining LAB. 16S rDNA sequencing data of 3 (As99-
1, As100-2, and As101-3) and 3 (As102-4, As105-7, and As112-9)
LAB strains clearly showed 97 to 99% (340 bp) homology to
Pediococcus dextrinicus and Pediococcus acidilactici, respectively.
Though, there was no correlation between the metal resistant and
removal efficiency of LAB examined but identified elevated As
removing LAB would probably be a potential As uptaking probiotic
agent. Since present experiment concerned with only As removal
from pure water, As removal and removal mechanism in natural
condition of intestinal milieu should be assessed in future studies.
Abstract: The number of users supported in a DS-CDMA
cellular system is typically less than spreading factor (N), and the
system is said to be underloaded. Overloading is a technique to
accommodate more number of users than the spreading factor N. In
O/O overloading scheme, the first set is assigned to the N
synchronous users and the second set is assigned to the additional
synchronous users. An iterative multistage soft decision interference
cancellation (SDIC) receiver is used to remove high level of
interference between the two sets. Performance is evaluated in terms
of the maximum number acceptable users so that the system
performance is degraded slightly compared to the single user
performance at a specified BER. In this paper, the capacity of CDMA
based O/O overloading scheme is evaluated with SDIC receiver. It is
observed that O/O scheme using orthogonal Gold codes provides
25% channel overloading (N=64) for synchronous DS-CDMA
system on an AWGN channel in the uplink at a BER of 1e-5.For a
Rayleigh faded channel, the critical capacity is 40% at a BER of 5e-5
assuming synchronous users. But in practical systems, perfect chip
timing is very difficult to maintain in the uplink.. We have shown that
the overloading performance reduces to 11% for a timing
synchronization error of 0.02Tc for a BER of 1e-5.
Abstract: The visualization of geographic information on mobile devices has become popular as the widespread use of mobile Internet. The mobility of these devices brings about much convenience to people-s life. By the add-on location-based services of the devices, people can have an access to timely information relevant to their tasks. However, visual analysis of geographic data on mobile devices presents several challenges due to the small display and restricted computing resources. These limitations on the screen size and resources may impair the usability aspects of the visualization applications. In this paper, a variable-scale visualization method is proposed to handle the challenge of small mobile display. By merging multiple scales of information into a single image, the viewer is able to focus on the interesting region, while having a good grasp of the surrounding context. This is essentially visualizing the map through a fisheye lens. However, the fisheye lens induces undesirable geometric distortion in the peripheral, which renders the information meaningless. The proposed solution is to apply map generalization that removes excessive information around the peripheral and an automatic smoothing process to correct the distortion while keeping the local topology consistent. The proposed method is applied on both artificial and real geographical data for evaluation.
Abstract: Pulse code modulation is a widespread technique
in digital communication with significant impact on existing
modern and proposed future communication technologies. Its
widespread utilization is due to its simplicity and attractive
spectral characteristics. In this paper, we present a new
approach to the spectral analysis of PCM signals using
Riemann-Stieltjes integrals, which is very accurate for high bit
rates. This approach can serve as a model for similar spectral
analysis of other competing modulation schemes.
Abstract: Aldehydes as secondary lipid oxidation products are highly specific to the oxidative degradation of particular polyunsaturated fatty acids present in foods. Gas chromatographic analysis of those volatile compounds has been widely used for monitoring of the deterioration of food products. Developed static headspace gas chromatography method using flame ionization detector (SHS GC FID) was applied to monitor the aldehydes present in processed foods such as bakery, meat and confectionary products.
Five selected aldehydes were determined in samples without any sample preparation, except grinding for bakery and meat products. SHS–GC analysis allows the separation of propanal, pentanal, hexanal, heptanal and octanal, within 15min. Aldehydes were quantified in fresh and stored samples, and the obtained range of aldehydes in crackers was 1.62±0.05 – 9.95±0.05mg/kg, in sausages 6.62±0.46 – 39.16±0.39mg/kg; and in cocoa spread cream 0.48±0.01 – 1.13±0.02mg/kg. Referring to the obtained results, the following can be concluded, proposed method is suitable for different types of samples, content of aldehydes varies depending on the type of a sample, and differs in fresh and stored samples of the same type.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the
influence of a number of variables on the conditional mean and
conditional variance of credit spread changes. The empirical analysis
in this paper is conducted within the context of bivariate GARCH-in-
Mean models, using the so-called BEKK parameterization. We show
that credit spread changes are determined by interest-rate and equityreturn
variables, which is in line with theory as provided by the
structural models of default. We also identify the credit spread
change volatility as an important determinant of credit spread
changes, and provide evidence on the transmission of volatility
between the variables under study.
Abstract: Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) is one of the various
methods that can be used to reduce the carbon footprint of the
energy sector. This paper focuses on the absorption of CO2 from
flue gas using packed columns, whose efficiency is highly dependent
on the structure of the liquid films within the column. To study the
characteristics of liquid films a CFD solver, OpenFOAM is utilised
to solve two-phase, isothermal film flow using the volume-of-fluid
(VOF) method. The model was validated using existing experimental
data and the Nusselt theory. It was found that smaller plate inclination
angles, with respect to the horizontal plane, resulted in larger wetted
areas on smooth plates. However, only a slight improvement in
the wetted area was observed. Simulations were also performed
using a ridged plate and it was observed that these surface textures
significantly increase the wetted area of the plate. This was mainly
attributed to the channelling effect of the ridges, which helped to
oppose the surface tension forces trying to minimise the surface area.
Rivulet formations on the ridged plate were also flattened out and
spread across a larger proportion of the plate width.
Abstract: One of the most important secrets of succesful companies is the fact that cooperation with NGOs will create a good reputation for them so that they can be immunized to economic crisis. The performance of the most admired companies in the world based on the ratings of Forbes and Fortune show us that most of these firms also have close relationships with their NGOs. Today, if companies do something wrong this information spreads very quickly to do the society. If people do not like the activities of a company, it can find itself in public relations nightmare that can threaten its repuation. Since the cost of communication has dropped dramatically due to the vast use of internet, the increase in communication among stakeholders via internet makes companies more visible. These multiple and interdependent interactions among the network of stakeholders is called as the network relationships. NGOs play the role of catalyst among the stakeholders of a firm to enhance the awareness. Succesful firms are aware of this fact that NGOs have a central role in today-s business world. Firms are also aware of the fact that they can enhance their corporate reputation via cooperation with the NGOs. This fact will be illustrated in this paper by examining some of the actions of the most succesful companies in terms of their cooperations with the NGOs.
Abstract: Entrepreneurship has become an important and
extensively researched concept in business studies. Research on
foreign direct investment (FDI) has become widespread due to the
growth of FDI and its importance in globalization. Most
entrepreneurship studies examined the importance and influence of
entrepreneurial orientation in a micro-level context. On the other
hand, studies and research concerning FDI used statistical techniques
to analyze the effect, determinants, and motives of FDI on a
macroeconomic level, ignoring empirical studies on other noneconomic
determinants. In order to bridge the gap between the theory
and empirical evidence on FDI and the theory and research on
entrepreneurship, this study examines the impact of entrepreneurship
on inward foreign direct investment. The relationship between
entrepreneurship and foreign direct investment is investigated
through regression analysis of pooled time-series and cross-sectional
data. The results suggest that entrepreneurship has a significant effect
on FDI.