Abstract: The article investigates how 14- to 15- year-olds build informal conceptions of inferential statistics as they engage in a modelling process and build their own computer simulations with dynamic statistical software. This study proposes four primary phases of informal inferential reasoning for the students in the statistical modeling and simulation process. Findings show shifts in the conceptual structures across the four phases and point to the potential of all of these phases for fostering the development of students- robust knowledge of the logic of inference when using computer based simulations to model and investigate statistical questions.
Abstract: The paper presents an applied study of a multivariate AR(p) process fitted to daily data from U.S. commodity futures markets with the use of Bayesian statistics. In the first part a detailed description of the methods used is given. In the second part two BVAR models are chosen one with assumption of lognormal, the second with normal distribution of prices conditioned on the parameters. For a comparison two simple benchmark models are chosen that are commonly used in todays Financial Mathematics. The article compares the quality of predictions of all the models, tries to find an adequate rate of forgetting of information and questions the validity of Efficient Market Hypothesis in the semi-strong form.
Abstract: This article discusses the questions concerning of creating small packet networks for energy companies with application of high voltage power line carrier equipment (PLC) with functionality of IP traffic transmission. The main idea is to create converged PLC links between substations and dispatching centers where packet data and voice are transmitted in one data flow. The article contents description of basic conception of the network, evaluation of voice traffic transmission parameters, and discussion of header compression techniques in relation to PLC links. The results of exploration show us, that convergent packet PLC links can be very useful in the construction of small packet networks between substations in remote locations, such as deposits or low populated areas.
Abstract: This paper explores the use of project work in a
content-based instruction in a Rajabhat University, a teacher college,
where student teachers are instructed to perform teaching roles
mainly in basic education level. Its aim is to link theory to practice,
and to help language teachers maximize the full potential of project
work for genuine communication and give real meaning to writing
activity. Two research questions are formulated to guide this study:
a) What is the academic achievement of the students- writing skill
against the 70% attainment target after the use of project to enhance
the skill? and b) To what degree is the development of the students-
writing skills during the course of project to enhance the skill? The
sample of the study comprised of 38 fourth-year English major
students. The data was collected by means of achievement test,
student writing works, and project diary. The scores in the summative
achievement test were analyzed by mean score, standard deviation,
and t-test. Project diary serves as students- record of the language
acquired during the project. List of structures and vocabulary noted in
the diary has shown students- ability to attend to, recognize, and
focus on meaningful patterns of language forms.
Abstract: The current situation in the eurozone raises a number of topics for discussion and to help in finding an answer to the question of whether a common currency is a more suitable means of coping with the impact of the financial crisis or whether national currencies are better suited to this. The economic situation in the EU is now considerably volatile and, due to problems with the fulfilment of the Maastricht convergence criteria, it is now being considered whether, in their further development, new member states will decide to distance themselves from the euro or will, in an attempt to overcome the crisis, speed up the adoption of the euro. The Czech Republic is one country with little interest in adopting the euro, justified by the fact that a better alternative to dealing with this crisis is an independent monetary policy and its ability to respond flexibly to the economic situation not only in Europe, but around the world. One attribute of the crisis in the Czech Republic and its mitigation is the freely floating exchange rate of the national currency. It is not only the Czech Republic that is attempting to alleviate the impact of the crisis, but also new EU member countries facing fresh questions to which theory have yet to provide wholly satisfactory answers. These questions undoubtedly include the problem of inflation targeting and the choice of appropriate instruments for achieving financial stability. The difficulty lies in the fact that these objectives may be contradictory and may require more than one means of achieving them. In this respect we may assume that membership of the euro zone might not in itself mitigate the development of the recession or protect the nation from future crises. We are of the opinion that the decisive factor in the development of any economy will continue to be the domestic economic policy and the operability of market economic mechanisms. We attempt to document this fact using selected countries as examples, these being the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Abstract: Image target detection and tracking methods based on
target information such as intensity, shape model, histogram and
target dynamics have been proven to be robust to target model
variations and background clutters as shown by recent researches.
However, no definitive answer has been given to occluded target by
counter measure or limited field of view(FOV). In this paper, we
will present a novel tracking method using filtering and computational
geometry. This paper has two central goals: 1) to deal with vulnerable
target measurements; and 2) to maintain target tracking out of FOV
using non-target-originated information. The experimental results,
obtained with airborne images, show a robust tracking ability with
respect to the existing approaches. In exploring the questions of target
tracking, this paper will be limited to consideration of airborne image.
Abstract: In this research, effort was made to identify and
evaluate barriers to the development of entrepreneurship among
Iranian entrepreneur women who were graduated from universities.
In this study, perspectives of thirty-seven available entrepreneur
women were examined. In order to prepare questionnaires and
receive knowledge about barriers among these women, seven cases of
entrepreneur women took part in in-depth interviews. Then, to
evaluate the importance of barriers, the researchers made a
questionnaire with closed questions in which the barriers were
classified into the following categories: personal-familial barriers;
socio-cultural barriers; economic-financial-commercial barriers; and
structural barriers. Entrepreneur women were requested to rate the
importance of each item. The results indicated that there were
different obstacles among entrepreneur women. The order of the
important barriers was as fallow: economic-financial-commercial,
structural, socio-cultural, and personal-familial.
Abstract: In this work, the surgical theater of a local hospital in
KSA was analyzed using simulation. The focus was on attempting to
answer questions related to how many Operating Rooms (ORs) to
open and to analyze the performance of the surgical theater in
general and mainly the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) to assist
making decisions regarding PACU staffing. The surgical theater
consists of ten operating rooms and the PACU unit which has a
maximum capacity of fifteen beds. Different sequencing rules to
sequence the surgical cases were tested and the Longest Case First
(LCF) were superior to others. The results of the different
alternatives developed and tested can be used by the manager as a
tool to plan and manage the OR and PACU
Abstract: A virtual collaborative classroom was created at East Carolina University, using videoconference technology via regular internet to bring students from 18 different countries, 2 at a time, to the ECU classroom in real time to learn about each other-s culture. Students from two countries are partnered one on one, they meet for 4-5 weeks, and submit a joint paper. Then the same process is repeated for two other countries. Lectures and student discussions are managed with pre-determined topics and questions. Classes are conducted in English and reading assignments are placed on the website. Administratively all partners are independent, students pay fees and get credits at their home institution. Familiarity with technology, knowledge in cultural understanding and attitude change were assessed, only attitude changes are reported in this paper. After taking this course, all students stated their comfort level in working with, and their desire to interact with, culturally different others grew stronger and their xenophobia and isolationist attitudes decreased.
Abstract: This paper studies questions of continuous data dependence and uniqueness for solutions of initial boundary value problems in linear micropolar thermoelastic mixtures. Logarithmic convexity arguments are used to establish results with no definiteness assumptions upon the internal energy.
Abstract: In this article, we propose an Intelligent Medical
Diagnostic System (IMDS) accessible through common
web-based interface, to on-line perform initial screening for
osteoporosis. The fundamental approaches which construct the
proposed system are mainly based on the fuzzy-neural theory,
which can exhibit superiority over other conventional technologies
in many fields. In diagnosis process, users simply answer
a series of directed questions to the system, and then they
will immediately receive a list of results which represents the
risk degrees of osteoporosis. According to clinical testing results,
it is shown that the proposed system can provide the general
public or even health care providers with a convenient, reliable,
inexpensive approach to osteoporosis risk assessment.
Abstract: Extensive use of the Internet coupled with the
marvelous growth in e-commerce and m-commerce has created a
huge demand for information security. The Secure Socket Layer
(SSL) protocol is the most widely used security protocol in the
Internet which meets this demand. It provides protection against
eaves droppings, tampering and forgery. The cryptographic
algorithms RC4 and HMAC have been in use for achieving security
services like confidentiality and authentication in the SSL. But recent
attacks against RC4 and HMAC have raised questions in the
confidence on these algorithms. Hence two novel cryptographic
algorithms MAJE4 and MACJER-320 have been proposed as
substitutes for them. The focus of this work is to demonstrate the
performance of these new algorithms and suggest them as dependable
alternatives to satisfy the need of security services in SSL. The
performance evaluation has been done by using practical
implementation method.