Abstract: High employee turnover rate in Malaysia-s retail industry has become a major issue that needs to be addressed. This study determines the levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention of employees in a retail company in Malaysia. The relationships between job satisfaction and organizational commitment on turnover intention are also investigated. A questionnaire was developed using Job Descriptive Index, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, and Lee and Mowday-s turnover intention items and data were collected from 62 respondents. The findings suggested that the respondents were moderately satisfied with job satisfaction facets such as promotion, work itself, co-workers, and supervisors but were unsatisfied with salary. They also had moderate commitment level with considerably high intention to leave the organization. All satisfaction facets (except for co-workers) and organizational commitment were significantly and negatively related to turnover intention. Based on the findings, retention strategies of retail employees were proposed.
Abstract: This paper presents a numerical analysis of the
performance of a three-bladed Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine
based on the DU91-W2-250 airfoil. A complete campaign of 2-D
simulations, performed for several values of tip speed ratio and based
on RANS unsteady calculations, has been performed to obtain the
rotor torque and power curves. Rotor performances have been
compared with the results of a previous work based on the use of the
NACA 0021 airfoil. Both the power coefficient and the torque
coefficient have been determined as a function of the tip speed ratio.
The flow field around rotor blades has also been analyzed. As a final
result, the performance of the DU airfoil based rotor appears to be
lower than the one based on the NACA 0021 blade section. This
behavior could be due to the higher stall characteristics of the NACA
profile, being the separation zone at the trailing edge more extended
for the DU airfoil.
Abstract: The RK5GL3 method is a numerical method for solving
initial value problems in ordinary differential equations, and is
based on a combination of a fifth-order Runge-Kutta method and
3-point Gauss-Legendre quadrature. In this paper we describe an
effective local error control algorithm for RK5GL3, which uses local
extrapolation with an eighth-order Runge-Kutta method in tandem
with RK5GL3, and a Hermite interpolating polynomial for solution
estimation at the Gauss-Legendre quadrature nodes.
Abstract: This article is an extension and a practical application
approach of Wheeler-s NEBIC theory (Net Enabled Business
Innovation Cycle). NEBIC theory is a new approach in IS research
and can be used for dynamic environment related to new technology.
Firms can follow the market changes rapidly with support of the IT
resources. Flexible firms adapt their market strategies, and respond
more quickly to customers changing behaviors. When every leading
firm in an industry has access to the same IT resources, the way that
these IT resources are managed will determine the competitive
advantages or disadvantages of firm. From Dynamic Capabilities
Perspective and from newly introduced NEBIC theory by Wheeler,
we know that only IT resources cannot deliver customer value but
good configuration of those resources can guarantee customer value
by choosing the right emerging technology, grasping the right
economic opportunities through business innovation and growth. We
found evidences in literature that SOA (Service Oriented
Architecture) is a promising emerging technology which can deliver
the desired economic opportunity through modularity, flexibility and
loose-coupling. SOA can also help firms to connect in network which
can open a new window of opportunity to collaborate in innovation
and right kind of outsourcing. There are many articles and research
reports indicates that failure rate in outsourcing is very high but at the
same time research indicates that successful outsourcing projects
adds tangible and intangible benefits to the service consumer.
Business executives and policy makers in the west should not afraid
of outsourcing but they should choose the right strategy through the
use of emerging technology to significantly reduce the failure rate in
outsourcing.
Abstract: Construction delay is unavoidable in developing
countries including Malaysia. It is defined as time overrun or
extension of time for completion of a project. The purpose of the
study is to determine the causes of delay in Malaysian construction
industries based on previous worldwide research. The field survey
conducted includes the experienced developers, consultants and
contractors in Malaysia. 34 causes of the construction delay have
been determined and 24 have been selected using the Rasch model
analysis. The analysis result will be used as the baseline for the next
research to find the causes of delay in the Malaysian construction
industry taking place in Malaysian higher learning institutions.
Abstract: Cooperative organizations in Malaysia are going
through a phase of rapid growth. They are seen by the government as
another crucial vehicle to drive and boost up the country-s
economical development and growth. Hence, the issue of cooperative
governance is of great importance. Unlike literatures on corporate
governance for public listed companies-, literatures on governance
for social enterprises, in particular the cooperative organizations are
still at the early stage in Malaysia and very scant in number. This
paper will look into current practices as well as issues and challenges
related to cooperative governance. The need for a better solution
towards forming best practices of cooperative governance framework
appears imperative in deterring cases of mismanagement and fraud.
Abstract: Energy dissipation in drops has been investigated by
physical models. After determination of effective parameters on the
phenomenon, three drops with different heights have been
constructed from Plexiglas. They have been installed in two existing
flumes in the hydraulic laboratory. Several runs of physical models
have been undertaken to measured required parameters for
determination of the energy dissipation. Results showed that the
energy dissipation in drops depend on the drop height and discharge.
Predicted relative energy dissipations varied from 10.0% to 94.3%.
This work has also indicated that the energy loss at drop is mainly
due to the mixing of the jet with the pool behind the jet that causes
air bubble entrainment in the flow. Statistical model has been
developed to predict the energy dissipation in vertical drops denotes
nonlinear correlation between effective parameters. Further an
artificial neural networks (ANNs) approach was used in this paper to
develop an explicit procedure for calculating energy loss at drops
using NeuroSolutions. Trained network was able to predict the
response with R2 and RMSE 0.977 and 0.0085 respectively. The
performance of ANN was found effective when compared to
regression equations in predicting the energy loss.
Abstract: With optimized bandwidth and latency discrepancy ratios, Node Gain Scores (NGSs) are determined and used as a basis for shaping the max-heap overlay. The NGSs - determined as the respective bandwidth-latency-products - govern the construction of max-heap-form overlays. Each NGS is earned as a synergy of discrepancy ratio of the bandwidth requested with respect to the estimated available bandwidth, and latency discrepancy ratio between the nodes and the source node. The tree leads to enhanceddelivery overlay multicasting – increasing packet delivery which could, otherwise, be hindered by induced packet loss occurring in other schemes not considering the synergy of these parameters on placing the nodes on the overlays. The NGS is a function of four main parameters – estimated available bandwidth, Ba; individual node's requested bandwidth, Br; proposed node latency to its prospective parent (Lp); and suggested best latency as advised by source node (Lb). Bandwidth discrepancy ratio (BDR) and latency discrepancy ratio (LDR) carry weights of α and (1,000 - α ) , respectively, with arbitrary chosen α ranging between 0 and 1,000 to ensure that the NGS values, used as node IDs, maintain a good possibility of uniqueness and balance between the most critical factor between the BDR and the LDR. A max-heap-form tree is constructed with assumption that all nodes possess NGS less than the source node. To maintain a sense of load balance, children of each level's siblings are evenly distributed such that a node can not accept a second child, and so on, until all its siblings able to do so, have already acquired the same number of children. That is so logically done from left to right in a conceptual overlay tree. The records of the pair-wise approximate available bandwidths as measured by a pathChirp scheme at individual nodes are maintained. Evaluation measures as compared to other schemes – Bandwidth Aware multicaSt architecturE (BASE), Tree Building Control Protocol (TBCP), and Host Multicast Tree Protocol (HMTP) - have been conducted. This new scheme generally performs better in terms of trade-off between packet delivery ratio; link stress; control overhead; and end-to-end delays.
Abstract: In this paper we propose a new knowledge model using
the Dempster-Shafer-s evidence theory for image segmentation and
fusion. The proposed method is composed essentially of two steps.
First, mass distributions in Dempster-Shafer theory are obtained from
the membership degrees of each pixel covering the three image
components (R, G and B). Each membership-s degree is determined by
applying Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering to the gray levels of the
three images. Second, the fusion process consists in defining three
discernment frames which are associated with the three images to be
fused, and then combining them to form a new frame of discernment.
The strategy used to define mass distributions in the combined
framework is discussed in detail. The proposed fusion method is
illustrated in the context of image segmentation. Experimental
investigations and comparative studies with the other previous methods
are carried out showing thus the robustness and superiority of the
proposed method in terms of image segmentation.
Abstract: Colored Petri Nets (CPN) are very known kind of
high level Petri nets. With sound and complete semantics, rewriting
logic is one of very powerful logics in description and verification of
non-deterministic concurrent systems. Recently, CPN semantics are
defined in terms of rewriting logic, allowing us to built models by
formal reasoning. In this paper, we propose an automatic translation
of CPN to the rewriting logic language Maude. This tool allows
graphical editing and simulating CPN. The tool allows the user
drawing a CPN graphically and automatic translating the graphical
representation of the drawn CPN to Maude specification. Then,
Maude language is used to perform the simulation of the resulted
Maude specification. It is the first rewriting logic based environment
for this category of Petri Nets.
Abstract: Gamboge disorder (GD) or fruit damage by the yellow sap is a major problem in mangosteen. Mangosteen plants varied in the level of GD, from very low or non GD to low, moderate and high GD. However it was difficult to differentiate between GD and non GD plants because evaluation of the disorder is strongly influenced by environment. In this study we investigated the usefulness of primer designed from bioinformatics related to cell wall strength, termed as MCWS, to predict GD. Plant materials used were 28 mangosteen plants selected based on percentage of GD categorized as high, moderate, low and very low or non GD. The result showed that the specific DNA fragments were absent in the high GD accessions. The MCWS marker suggests as a novel polymorphic marker for GD in mangosteen as well as a marker for detect variability in mangosteen as apomictic plant.
Abstract: Determination of wellbore problems during a
production/injection process might be evaluated thorough
temperature log analysis. Other applications of this kind of log
analysis may also include evaluation of fluid distribution analysis
along the wellbore and identification of anomalies encountered
during production/injection process. While the accuracy of such
prediction is paramount, the common method of determination of a
wellbore temperature log includes use of steady-state energy balance
equations, which hardly describe the real conditions as observed in
typical oil and gas flowing wells during production operation; and
thus increase level of uncertainties. In this study, a practical method
has been proposed through development of a simplified semianalytical
model to apply for predicting temperature profile along the
wellbore. The developed model includes an overall heat transfer
coefficient accounting all modes of heat transferring mechanism,
which has been focused on the prediction of a temperature profile as
a function of depth for the injection/production wells. The model has
been validated with the results obtained from numerical simulation.
Abstract: The present paper concerns with the influence of fiber
packing on the transverse plastic properties of metal matrix
composites. A micromechanical modeling procedure is used to
predict the effective mechanical properties of composite materials at
large tensile and compressive deformations. Microstructure is
represented by a repeating unit cell (RUC). Two fiber arrays are
considered including ideal square fiber packing and random fiber
packing defined by random sequential algorithm. The
micromechanical modeling procedure is implemented for
graphite/aluminum metal matrix composite in which the
reinforcement behaves as elastic, isotropic solids and the matrix is
modeled as an isotropic elastic-plastic solid following the von Mises
criterion with isotropic hardening and the Ramberg-Osgood
relationship between equivalent true stress and logarithmic strain.
The deformation is increased to a considerable value to evaluate both
elastic and plastic behaviors of metal matrix composites. The yields
strength and true elastic-plastic stress are determined for
graphite/aluminum composites.
Abstract: Post cracking behavior and load –bearing capacity of
the steel fiber reinforced high-strength concrete (SFRHSC) are
dependent on the number of fibers are crossing the weakest crack
(bridged the crack) and their orientation to the crack surface. Filling
the mould by SFRHSC, fibers are moving and rotating with the
concrete matrix flow till the motion stops in each internal point of the
concrete body. Filling the same mould from the different ends
SFRHSC samples with the different internal structures (and different
strength) can be obtained. Numerical flow simulations (using Newton
and Bingham flow models) were realized, as well as single fiber
planar motion and rotation numerical and experimental investigation
(in viscous flow) was performed. X-ray pictures for prismatic
samples were obtained and internal fiber positions and orientations
were analyzed. Similarly fiber positions and orientations in cracked
cross-section were recognized and were compared with numerically
simulated. Structural SFRHSC fracture model was created based on
single fiber pull-out laws, which were determined experimentally.
Model predictions were validated by 15x15x60cm prisms 4 point
bending tests.
Abstract: Food and fibre production in arid and semi-arid regions has emerged as one of the major challenges for various socio-economic and political reasons such as the food security and self-sufficiency. Productive use of the renewable water resources has risen on top ofthe decision-making agenda. For this reason, efficient operation and maintenance of modern irrigation and drainage schemes become part and parcel and indispensible reality in agricultural policy making arena. The aim of this paper is to investigate the complexity of operating and maintaining such schemes, mainly focussing on challenges which enhance and opportunities that impedsustainable food and fibre production. The methodology involved using secondary data complemented byroutine observations and stakeholders views on issues that influence the O&M in the Dez command area. The SPSS program was used as an analytical framework for data analysis and interpretation.Results indicate poor application efficiency in most croplands, much of which is attributed to deficient operation of conveyance and distribution canals. These in turn, are reportedly linked to inadequate maintenance of the pumping stations and hydraulic structures like turnouts,flumes and other control systems particularly in the secondary and tertiary canals. Results show that the aforementioned deficiencies have been the major impediment to establishing regular flow toward the farm gates which subsequently undermine application efficiency and tillage operationsat farm level. Results further show that accumulative impact of such deficiencies has been the major causes of poorcrop yield and quality that deem production system in these croplands uneconomic. Results further show that the present state might undermine the sustainability of agricultural system in the command area. The overall conclusion being that present water management is unlikely to be responsive to challenges that the sector faces. And in the absence of coherent measures to shift the status quo situation in favour of more productive resource use, it would be hard to fulfil the objectives of the National Economic and Socio-cultural Development Plans.
Abstract: In competitive electricity markets all over the world, an adoption of suitable transmission pricing model is a problem as transmission segment still operates as a monopoly. Transmission pricing is an important tool to promote investment for various transmission services in order to provide economic, secure and reliable electricity to bulk and retail customers. The nodal pricing based on SRMC (Short Run Marginal Cost) is found extremely useful by researchers for sending correct economic signals. The marginal prices must be determined as a part of solution to optimization problem i.e. to maximize the social welfare. The need to maximize the social welfare subject to number of system operational constraints is a major challenge from computation and societal point of views. The purpose of this paper is to present a nodal transmission pricing model based on SRMC by developing new mathematical expressions of real and reactive power marginal prices using GA-Fuzzy based optimal power flow framework. The impacts of selecting different social welfare functions on power marginal prices are analyzed and verified with results reported in literature. Network revenues for two different power systems are determined using expressions derived for real and reactive power marginal prices in this paper.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a fixed formatting method of PPX(Pretty Printer for XML). PPX is a query language for XML database which has extensive formatting capability that produces HTML as the result of a query. The fixed formatting method is to completely specify the combination of variables and layout specification operators within the layout expression of the GENERATE clause of PPX. In the experiment, a quick comparison shows that PPX requires far less description compared to XSLT or XQuery programs doing the same tasks.
Abstract: Hyperglycaemia is a key factor that contributes to the
development of diabetes-related microvascular disease and a major
risk factor for endothelial dysfunction. In the current study, we have
explored glucose-induced abnormal intracellular calcium (Ca2+
i)
homeostasis in mouse microvessel endothelial cells (MMECs) in
high glucose (HG) (40mmol/L) versus control (low glucose, LG) (11
mmol/L). We demonstrated that the exposure of MMECs to HG for 3
days did not change basal Ca2+
i, however, there was a significant
increase of acetylcholine-induced Ca2+ entry. Western blots
illustrated that exposure to HG also increased STIM1 (Stromal
Interaction Molecule 1), but not Orai1 (the pore forming subunit),
protein expression levels. Although the link between HG-induced
changes in STIM1 expression, enhanced Ca2+ entry and endothelial
dysfunction requires further study, the current data are suggestive
that targeting these pathways may reduce the impact of HG on
endothelial function.
Abstract: Various solar energy technologies exist and they have
different application techniques in the generation of electrical power.
The widespread use of photovoltaic (PV) modules in such
technologies has been limited by relatively high costs and low
efficiencies. The efficiency of PV panels decreases as the operating
temperatures increase. This is due to the affect of solar intensity and
ambient temperature. In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) was used to model the heat transfer from a standard PV panel
and thus determine the rate of dissipation of heat. To accurately
model the specific climatic conditions of the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), a case study of a new build green building in Dubai was
used. A finned heat pipe arrangement is proposed and analyzed to
determine the improved heat dissipation and thus improved
performance efficiency of the PV panel. A prototype of the
arrangement is built for experimental testing to validate the CFD
modeling and proof of concept.
Abstract: Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is the engine
driving high-throughput protein identification. Protein mixtures possibly
representing thousands of proteins from multiple species are
treated with proteolytic enzymes, cutting the proteins into smaller
peptides that are then analyzed generating MS/MS spectra. The
task of determining the identity of the peptide from its spectrum
is currently the weak point in the process. Current approaches to de
novo sequencing are able to compute candidate peptides efficiently.
The problem lies in the limitations of current scoring functions. In this
paper we introduce the concept of proteome signature. By examining
proteins and compiling proteome signatures (amino acid usage) it is
possible to characterize likely combinations of amino acids and better
distinguish between candidate peptides. Our results strongly support
the hypothesis that a scoring function that considers amino acid usage
patterns is better able to distinguish between candidate peptides. This
in turn leads to higher accuracy in peptide prediction.