Professional Burn out of Teachers: Reasons and Regularities

In recent years in Kazakhstan, as well as in all countries, we have been talking not only about the professional stress, but also professional Burnout Syndrome of employees. Burnout is essentially a response to chronic emotional stress – manifests itself in the form of chronic fatigue, despondency, unmotivated aggression, anger, and others. This condition is due to mental fatigue among teachers as a sort of payment for overstrain when professional commitments include the impact of “heat your soul", emotional investment. The emergence of professional Burnout among teachers is due to the system of interrelated and mutually reinforcing factors relating to the various levels of the personality: individually-psychological level is psychodynamic special subject characteristics of valuemotivational sphere and formation of skills and habits of selfregulation; the socio-psychological level includes especially the Organization and interpersonal interaction of a teacher. Signs of the Burnout were observed in 15 testees, and virtually a symptom could be observed in every teacher. As a result of the diagnosis 48% of teachers had the signs of stress (phase syndrome), resulting in a sense of anxiety, mood, heightened emotional susceptibility. The following results have also been got:-the fall of General energy potential – 14 pers. -Psychosomatic and psycho vegetative syndrome – 26 pers. -emotional deficit-34 pers. -emotional Burnout Syndrome-6 pers. The problem of professional Burnout of teachers in the current conditions should become not only meaningful, but particularly relevant. The quality of education of the younger generation depends on professional development; teachers- training level, and how “healthy" teachers are. That is why the systematic maintenance of pedagogic-professional development for teachers (including disclosure of professional Burnout Syndrome factors) takes on a special meaning.

Fuzzy Expert System Design for Determining Wearing Properties of Nitrided and Non Nitrided Steel

This paper proposes a Fuzzy Expert System design to determine the wearing properties of nitrided and non nitrided steel. The proposed Fuzzy Expert System approach helps the user and the manufacturer to forecast the wearing properties of nitrided and non nitrided steel under specified laboratory conditions. Surfaces of the engineering components are often nitrided for improving wear, corosion, fatigue specifications. A major property of nitriding process is reducing distortion and wearing of the metalic alloys. A Fuzzy Expert System was developed for determining the wearing and durability properties of nitrided and non nitrided steels that were tested under different loads and different sliding speeds in the laboratory conditions.

Correlation-based Feature Selection using Ant Colony Optimization

Feature selection has recently been the subject of intensive research in data mining, specially for datasets with a large number of attributes. Recent work has shown that feature selection can have a positive effect on the performance of machine learning algorithms. The success of many learning algorithms in their attempts to construct models of data, hinges on the reliable identification of a small set of highly predictive attributes. The inclusion of irrelevant, redundant and noisy attributes in the model building process phase can result in poor predictive performance and increased computation. In this paper, a novel feature search procedure that utilizes the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is presented. The ACO is a metaheuristic inspired by the behavior of real ants in their search for the shortest paths to food sources. It looks for optimal solutions by considering both local heuristics and previous knowledge. When applied to two different classification problems, the proposed algorithm achieved very promising results.

Image Segment Matching Using Affine- Invariant Regions

In this paper, a method for matching image segments using triangle-based (geometrical) regions is proposed. Triangular regions are formed from triples of vertex points obtained from a keypoint detector (SIFT). However, triangle regions are subject to noise and distortion around the edges and vertices (especially acute angles). Therefore, these triangles are expanded into parallelogramshaped regions. The extracted image segments inherit an important triangle property; the invariance to affine distortion. Given two images, matching corresponding regions is conducted by computing the relative affine matrix, rectifying one of the regions w.r.t. the other one, then calculating the similarity between the reference and rectified region. The experimental tests show the efficiency and robustness of the proposed algorithm against geometrical distortion.

Fabrication of Al/Cu Clad Sheet by Shear Extrusion

Aluminum/Copper clad sheet has been fabricated using asymmetric extrusion method, which caused severe shear deformation between Al and Cu plate to easily bond to each other. Interfacial microstructure and mechanical properties of Al/Cu clad were studied by scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive X-ray detector, micro-hardness, and tension tests. The asymmetric extrusion bonding was very effective to provide a good interface for atoms diffusion during subsequent annealing. The strength of bonding was higher with the increasing extrusion ratio.

Cascade Kalman Filter Configuration for Low Cost IMU/GPS Integration in Car Navigation Like Robot

This paper introduces a low cost INS/GPS algorithm for land vehicle navigation application. The data fusion process is done with an extended Kalman filter in cascade configuration mode. In order to perform numerical simulations, MATLAB software has been developed. Loosely coupled configuration is considered. The results obtained in this work demonstrate that a low-cost INS/GPS navigation system is partially capable of meeting the performance requirements for land vehicle navigation. The relative effectiveness of the kalman filter implementation in integrated GPS/INS navigation algorithm is highlighted. The paper also provides experimental results; field test using a car is carried out.

Improvement of Gregory's formula using Particle Swarm Optimization

Consider the Gregory integration (G) formula with end corrections where h Δ is the forward difference operator with step size h. In this study we prove that can be optimized by minimizing some of the coefficient k a in the remainder term by particle swarm optimization. Experimental tests prove that can be rendered a powerful formula for library use.

A Coherent Relationship between EconomicGrowth and Unemployment: An Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

The study is aimed to test causal relationship between growth and unemployment, using time series data for Pakistan from 1972 to 2006. Growth is considered to be a pathway to decrease the level of unemployment. Unemployment is a social and political issue. It is a phenomenon where human resources are wasted leading to deacceleration in growth. Johanson Cointegration shows that there is long run relationship between growth and unemployment. For short run dynamics and causality, the study utilizes Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results of VECM indicate that there is short and long run causal relation between growth and unemployment including capital, labor and human capital as explanatory variables.

Analytical Estimation of Rotor Loss Due to Stator Slotting of Synchronous PM Machines

In this paper, we analyze the rotor eddy currents losses provoqued by the stator slot harmonics developed in the permanent magnets or pole pieces of synchronous machines. An analytical approach is presented to evaluate the effect of slot ripples on rotor field and losses calculation. This analysis is then tested on a model by 2D/3D finite element (FE) calculation. The results show a good agreement on loss calculations when skin effect is negligible and the magnet is considered.

Synthesis and Characterization of Plasma Polymerized Thin Films Deposited from Benzene and Hexamethyldisiloxane using (PECVD) Method

Polymer-like organic thin films were deposited on both aluminum alloy type 6061 and glass substrates at room temperature by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) methodusing benzene and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) as precursor materials. The surface and physical properties of plasma-polymerized organic thin films were investigated at different r.f. powers. The effects of benzene/argon ratio on the properties of plasma polymerized benzene films were also investigated. It is found that using benzene alone results in a non-coherent and non-adherent powdery deposited material. The chemical structure and surface properties of the asgrown plasma polymerized thin films were analyzed on glass substrates with FTIR and contact angle measurements. FTIR spectra of benzene deposited film indicated that the benzene rings are preserved when increasing benzene ratio and/or decreasing r.f. powers. FTIR spectra of HMDSO deposited films indicated an increase of the hydrogen concentration and a decrease of the oxygen concentration with the increase of r.f. power. The contact angle (θ) of the films prepared from benzene was found to increase by about 43% as benzene ratio increases from 10% to 20%. θ was then found to decrease to the original value (51°) when the benzene ratio increases to 100%. The contact angle, θ, for both benzene and HMDSO deposited films were found to increase with r.f. power. This signifies that the plasma polymerized organic films have substantially low surface energy as the r.f power increases. The corrosion resistance of aluminum alloy substrate both bare and covered with plasma polymerized thin films was carried out by potentiodynamic polarization measurements in standard 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution at room temperature. The results indicate that the benzene and HMDSO deposited films are suitable for protection of the aluminum substrate against corrosion. The changes in the processing parameters seem to have a strong influence on the film protective ability. Surface roughness of films deposited on aluminum alloy substrate was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM images indicate that the surface roughness of benzene deposited films increase with decreasing the benzene ratio. SEM images of benzene and HMDSO deposited films indicate that the surface roughness decreases with increasing r.f. power. Studying the above parameters indicate that the films produced are suitable for specific practical applications.

Novel Approach for Promoting the Generalization Ability of Neural Networks

A new approach to promote the generalization ability of neural networks is presented. It is based on the point of view of fuzzy theory. This approach is implemented through shrinking or magnifying the input vector, thereby reducing the difference between training set and testing set. It is called “shrinking-magnifying approach" (SMA). At the same time, a new algorithm; α-algorithm is presented to find out the appropriate shrinking-magnifying-factor (SMF) α and obtain better generalization ability of neural networks. Quite a few simulation experiments serve to study the effect of SMA and α-algorithm. The experiment results are discussed in detail, and the function principle of SMA is analyzed in theory. The results of experiments and analyses show that the new approach is not only simpler and easier, but also is very effective to many neural networks and many classification problems. In our experiments, the proportions promoting the generalization ability of neural networks have even reached 90%.

Application of Pearson Parametric Distribution Model in Fatigue Life Reliability Evaluation

The aim of this paper is to introduce a parametric distribution model in fatigue life reliability analysis dealing with variation in material properties. Service loads in terms of responsetime history signal of Belgian pave were replicated on a multi-axial spindle coupled road simulator and stress-life method was used to estimate the fatigue life of automotive stub axle. A PSN curve was obtained by monotonic tension test and two-parameter Weibull distribution function was used to acquire the mean life of the component. A Pearson system was developed to evaluate the fatigue life reliability by considering stress range intercept and slope of the PSN curve as random variables. Considering normal distribution of fatigue strength, it is found that the fatigue life of the stub axle to have the highest reliability between 10000 – 15000 cycles. Taking into account the variation of material properties associated with the size effect, machining and manufacturing conditions, the method described in this study can be effectively applied in determination of probability of failure of mass-produced parts.

Text Mining Technique for Data Mining Application

Text Mining is around applying knowledge discovery techniques to unstructured text is termed knowledge discovery in text (KDT), or Text data mining or Text Mining. In decision tree approach is most useful in classification problem. With this technique, tree is constructed to model the classification process. There are two basic steps in the technique: building the tree and applying the tree to the database. This paper describes a proposed C5.0 classifier that performs rulesets, cross validation and boosting for original C5.0 in order to reduce the optimization of error ratio. The feasibility and the benefits of the proposed approach are demonstrated by means of medial data set like hypothyroid. It is shown that, the performance of a classifier on the training cases from which it was constructed gives a poor estimate by sampling or using a separate test file, either way, the classifier is evaluated on cases that were not used to build and evaluate the classifier are both are large. If the cases in hypothyroid.data and hypothyroid.test were to be shuffled and divided into a new 2772 case training set and a 1000 case test set, C5.0 might construct a different classifier with a lower or higher error rate on the test cases. An important feature of see5 is its ability to classifiers called rulesets. The ruleset has an error rate 0.5 % on the test cases. The standard errors of the means provide an estimate of the variability of results. One way to get a more reliable estimate of predictive is by f-fold –cross- validation. The error rate of a classifier produced from all the cases is estimated as the ratio of the total number of errors on the hold-out cases to the total number of cases. The Boost option with x trials instructs See5 to construct up to x classifiers in this manner. Trials over numerous datasets, large and small, show that on average 10-classifier boosting reduces the error rate for test cases by about 25%.

Probabilistic Modelling of Marine Bridge Deterioration

Chloride induced corrosion of steel reinforcement is the main cause of deterioration of reinforced concrete marine structures. This paper investigates the relative performance of alternative repair options with respect to the deterioration of reinforced concrete bridge elements in marine environments. Focus is placed on the initiation phase of reinforcement corrosion. A laboratory study is described which involved exposing concrete samples to accelerated chloride-ion ingress. The study examined the relative efficiencies of two repair methods, namely Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) concrete and a concrete which utilised Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Cement (GGBS) as a partial cement replacement. The mix designs and materials utilised were identical to those implemented in the repair of a marine bridge on the South East coast of Ireland in 2007. The results of this testing regime serve to inform input variables employed in probabilistic modelling of deterioration for subsequent reliability based analysis to compare the relative performance of the studied repair options.

Process and Supply-Chain Optimization for Testing and Verification of Formation Tester/Pressure-While- Drilling Tools

Applying a rigorous process to optimize the elements of a supply-chain network resulted in reduction of the waiting time for a service provider and customer. Different sources of downtime of hydraulic pressure controller/calibrator (HPC) were causing interruptions in the operations. The process examined all the issues to drive greater efficiencies. The issues included inherent design issues with HPC pump, contamination of the HPC with impurities, and the lead time required for annual calibration in the USA. HPC is used for mandatory testing/verification of formation tester/pressure measurement/logging-while drilling tools by oilfield service providers, including Halliburton. After market study andanalysis, it was concluded that the current HPC model is best suited in the oilfield industry. To use theexisting HPC model effectively, design andcontamination issues were addressed through design and process improvements. An optimum network is proposed after comparing different supply-chain models for calibration lead-time reduction.

Stress Relaxation of Date at Different Temperature and Moisture Content of Product: A New Approach

Iran is one of the greatest producers of date in the world. However due to lack of information about its viscoelastic properties, much of the production downgraded during harvesting and postharvesting processes. In this study the effect of temperature and moisture content of product were investigated on stress relaxation characteristics. Therefore, the freshly harvested date (kabkab) at tamar stage were put in controlled environment chamber to obtain different temperature levels (25, 35, 45, and 55 0C) and moisture contents (8.5, 8.7, 9.2, 15.3, 20, 32.2 %d.b.). A texture analyzer TAXT2 (Stable Microsystems, UK) was used to apply uniaxial compression tests. A chamber capable to control temperature was designed and fabricated around the plunger of texture analyzer to control the temperature during the experiment. As a new approach a CCD camera (A4tech, 30 fps) was mounted on a cylindrical glass probe to scan and record contact area between date and disk. Afterwards, pictures were analyzed using image processing toolbox of Matlab software. Individual date fruit was uniaxially compressed at speed of 1 mm/s. The constant strain of 30% of thickness of date was applied to the horizontally oriented fruit. To select a suitable model for describing stress relaxation of date, experimental data were fitted with three famous stress relaxation models including the generalized Maxwell, Nussinovitch, and Pelege. The constant in mentioned model were determined and correlated with temperature and moisture content of product using non-linear regression analysis. It was found that Generalized Maxwell and Nussinovitch models appropriately describe viscoelastic characteristics of date fruits as compared to Peleg mode.

Enriching Egg Yolk with Carotenoids and Phenols

Dried tomato peel (DTP) was tested in vivo (n=10) in 42 week-old laying hens at rates of 0, 40, 70, 100 and 130g/kg DM feed. Laying hens were fed in group 120 g DM/day/animal for 26 days. After 21 days, feed intake was not affected after DTP incorporation (97% of the offered feed in the five groups). Laying rate was not significantly different after DTP incorporation at 4 and 10% from the control group. Egg yolk resulting from DTP-enriched diets, contained lower amounts of cholesterol (14 to 17mg/g) and triglyceride (188mg/g) compared to the control group (22 and 241 mg/g, respectively) (P

A High Performance Technique in Harmonic Omitting Based on Predictive Current Control of a Shunt Active Power Filter

The perfect operation of common Active Filters is depended on accuracy of identification system distortion. Also, using a suitable method in current injection and reactive power compensation, leads to increased filter performance. Due to this fact, this paper presents a method based on predictive current control theory in shunt active filter applications. The harmonics of the load current is identified by using o–d–q reference frame on load current and eliminating the DC part of d–q components. Then, the rest of these components deliver to predictive current controller as a Threephase reference current by using Park inverse transformation. System is modeled in discreet time domain. The proposed method has been tested using MATLAB model for a nonlinear load (with Total Harmonic Distortion=20%). The simulation results indicate that the proposed filter leads to flowing a sinusoidal current (THD=0.15%) through the source. In addition, the results show that the filter tracks the reference current accurately.

Solving Part Type Selection and Loading Problem in Flexible Manufacturing System Using Real Coded Genetic Algorithms – Part I: Modeling

This paper and its companion (Part 2) deal with modeling and optimization of two NP-hard problems in production planning of flexible manufacturing system (FMS), part type selection problem and loading problem. The part type selection problem and the loading problem are strongly related and heavily influence the system-s efficiency and productivity. The complexity of the problems is harder when flexibilities of operations such as the possibility of operation processed on alternative machines with alternative tools are considered. These problems have been modeled and solved simultaneously by using real coded genetic algorithms (RCGA) which uses an array of real numbers as chromosome representation. These real numbers can be converted into part type sequence and machines that are used to process the part types. This first part of the papers focuses on the modeling of the problems and discussing how the novel chromosome representation can be applied to solve the problems. The second part will discuss the effectiveness of the RCGA to solve various test bed problems.

Quasi Multi-Pulse Back-to-Back Static Synchronous Compensator Employing Line Frequency Switching 2-Level GTO Inverters

Back-to-back static synchronous compensator (BtBSTATCOM) consists of two back-to-back voltage-source converters (VSC) with a common DC link in a substation. This configuration extends the capabilities of conventional STATCOM that bidirectional active power transfer from one bus to another is possible. In this paper, VSCs are designed in quasi multi-pulse form in which GTOs are triggered only once per cycle in PSCAD/EMTDC. The design details of VSCs as well as gate switching circuits and controllers are fully represented. Regulation modes of BtBSTATCOM are verified and tested on a multi-machine power system through different simulation cases. The results presented in the form of typical time responses show that practical PI controllers are almost robust and stable in case of start-up, set-point change, and line faults.