Abstract: Solidarity and kinship has long been an intangible
emblem to Malay community especially in the rural area. It is visibly
seen through the dependability among each unit of the community
either in religious and social events including the matrimonial or
wedding. Nevertheless, the inevitable phenomenon, modernization
legitimately alters every facets of human life not only the routines,
traditions, rituals, norms but also to the daily activities and the
specific occasion. Using triangulation approach of interview and self
completed questionnaire this study empirically examine the level of
alteration of Malays wedding foodways which relate to the
preparation and consumption of it and its impact on the community
social bonding. Some meaningful insights were obtained whereby
modernization through technology (modern equipments) and social
factors (education, migration, and high disposal income) significantly
contribute to the alteration of wedding foodways from preparation up
to consumption stages. The domino effect of this alteration
consequently leads to the fragility of social kinship or somehow
reduced cohesiveness and interaction among the individual of Malay
society in the rural area.
Abstract: We depend upon explanation in order to “make sense"
out of our world. And, making sense is all the more important when
dealing with change. But, what happens if our explanations are
wrong? This question is examined with respect to two types of
explanatory model. Models based on labels and categories we shall
refer to as “representations." More complex models involving
stories, multiple algorithms, rules of thumb, questions, ambiguity we
shall refer to as “compressions." Both compressions and
representations are reductions. But representations are far more
reductive than compressions. Representations can be treated as a set
of defined meanings – coherence with regard to a representation is
the degree of fidelity between the item in question and the definition
of the representation, of the label. By contrast, compressions contain
enough degrees of freedom and ambiguity to allow us to make
internal predictions so that we may determine our potential actions in
the possibility space. Compressions are explanatory via mechanism.
Representations are explanatory via category. Managers are often
confusing their evocation of a representation (category inclusion) as
the creation of a context of compression (description of mechanism).
When this type of explanatory error occurs, more errors follow. In
the drive for efficiency such substitutions are all too often proclaimed
– at the manager-s peril..
Abstract: An experiment was conducted to study the effects of different types of probiotic on Sucrase enzyme activity of the small intestine mucosa in male broilers. The experimental design was arranged as randomized completely blocks in 4 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatment. 180 male broilers of Ross 308 commercial hybrid were designated into 4 groups. Three replicates of 15 birds were assigned to each treatment. Control treatments (diet contained no probiotic) were fed according to the NRC as base diet and three treatment groups were fed from the same diet plus three different types of probiotics. Birds were slaughtered after 21 and 42 days and different segments of small intestine (at 1,10,30,50,70 and 90% of total length the small intestine) were taken from each replicates (N=2) Sucrase enzyme activities were measured and recorded. Obtained data were analyzed by Spss (P
Abstract: Extracting thematic (semantic) roles is one of the
major steps in representing text meaning. It refers to finding the
semantic relations between a predicate and syntactic constituents in a
sentence. In this paper we present a rule-based approach to extract
semantic roles from Persian sentences. The system exploits a twophase
architecture to (1) identify the arguments and (2) label them
for each predicate.
For the first phase we developed a rule based shallow parser to
chunk Persian sentences and for the second phase we developed a
knowledge-based system to assign 16 selected thematic roles to the
chunks. The experimental results of testing each phase are shown at
the end of the paper.
Abstract: Due to the Rapid Urbanization in China, the influence of metropolises to surrounding areas grows by a tremendous speed in developed region. One of the most obvious influences is the expansion of the urban built-up areas which covers the land belongs to small towns. Around metropolitan fringe, the boundary between city and village becomes more and more obscure. So being the most sensitive area, the small towns on the fringe of metropolises have the special meaning on the research into the small towns- development. This paper chooses Sandun Town in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province as an example, emphatically focus on aspects such as the central area proliferation, the industrial shift, the position effect, the subway effect and the commercial development, reviews a few problems of small towns in the future and the important problems in their planning by the analysis of the characteristics of the present conditions and the developing motive mechanism, so that guides small towns to develop properly by liking with these small towns and center metropolises.
Abstract: Resource discovery is one of the chief services of a grid. A new approach to discover the provenances in grid through learning automata has been propounded in this article. The objective of the aforementioned resource-discovery service is to select the resource based upon the user-s applications and the mercantile yardsticks that is to say opting for an originator which can accomplish the user-s tasks in the most economic manner. This novel service is submitted in two phases. We proffered an applicationbased categorization by means of an intelligent nerve-prone plexus. The user in question sets his or her application as the input vector of the nerve-prone nexus. The output vector of the aforesaid network limns the appropriateness of any one of the resource for the presented executive procedure. The most scrimping option out of those put forward in the previous stage which can be coped with to fulfill the task in question is picked out. Te resource choice is carried out by means of the presented algorithm based upon the learning automata.
Abstract: In this paper, the phase control antenna array synthesis
is presented. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimization
problem that imposes nulls with prescribed level while maintaining
the sidelobe at a prescribed level. For efficient use of the algorithm
memory, compared to the well known Particle Swarm Optimization
(PSO), the Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) is used
to estimate the phase parameters of the synthesized array. The
objective function is formed using a main objective and set of
constraints with penalty factors that measure the violation of each
feasible solution in the search space to each constraint. In this case
the obtained feasible solution is guaranteed to satisfy all the
constraints. Simulation results have shown significant performance
increases and a decreased randomness in the parameter search space
compared to a single objective conventional particle swarm
optimization.
Abstract: In this study, the effect of L-arginine was examined at the neuromuscular junction of the chick biventer cervicis muscle. LArginine at 500 μg/ ml, decreased twitch response to electerical stimulation, and produced rightward shift of the dose- response curve for acetylcholine or carbachol. L-Arginine at 1000μg/ ml produced a strong shift to the right of the dose – response curve for acetylcholine or carbachol with a reduction in the efficacy. The inhibitory effect of L-arginine on the twitch response was blocked by caffeine (200μg/ ml). NO levels were also measured in the chick biventer cervicis muscle homogenates, using spectrophotometric method for the direct detection of NO, nitrite and nitrate. Total nitrite (nitrite + nitrate) was measured by a spectrophotometer at 540 nm after the conversion of nitrate to nitrite by copperized cadmium granules. NO levels were found to be significantly increased in concentrations 500 and 1000μg/ ml of L-arginine in comparison with the control group (p
Abstract: Methods for organizing web data into groups in order
to analyze web-based hypertext data and facilitate data availability
are very important in terms of the number of documents available
online. Thereby, the task of clustering web-based document structures
has many applications, e.g., improving information retrieval on the
web, better understanding of user navigation behavior, improving web
users requests servicing, and increasing web information accessibility.
In this paper we investigate a new approach for clustering web-based
hypertexts on the basis of their graph structures. The hypertexts will
be represented as so called generalized trees which are more general
than usual directed rooted trees, e.g., DOM-Trees. As a important
preprocessing step we measure the structural similarity between the
generalized trees on the basis of a similarity measure d. Then,
we apply agglomerative clustering to the obtained similarity matrix
in order to create clusters of hypertext graph patterns representing
navigation structures. In the present paper we will run our approach
on a data set of hypertext structures and obtain good results in
Web Structure Mining. Furthermore we outline the application of
our approach in Web Usage Mining as future work.
Abstract: In automotive systems almost all steps concerning the
calibration of several control systems, e.g., low idle governor or
boost pressure governor, are made with the vehicle because the timeto-
production and cost requirements on the projects do not allow for
the vehicle analysis necessary to build reliable models. Here is
presented a procedure using parametric and NN (neural network)
models that enables the generation of vehicle system models based
on normal ECU engine control unit) vehicle measurements. These
models are locally valid and permit pre and follow-up calibrations so
that, only the final calibrations have to be done with the vehicle.
Abstract: A SnO2/CdS/CdTe heterojunction was fabricated by
thermal evaporation technique. The fabricated cells were annealed at
573K for periods of 60, 120 and 180 minutes. The structural
properties of the solar cells have been studied by using X-ray
diffraction. Capacitance- voltage measurements were studied for the
as-prepared and annealed cells at a frequency of 102 Hz. The
capacitance- voltage measurements indicated that these cells are
abrupt. The capacitance decreases with increasing annealing time.
The zero bias depletion region width and the carrier concentration
increased with increasing annealing time. The carrier transport
mechanism for the CdS/CdTe heterojunction in dark is tunneling
recombination. The ideality factor is 1.56 and the reverse bias
saturation current is 9.6×10-10A. The energy band lineup for the n-
CdS/p-CdTe heterojunction was investigated using current - voltage
and capacitance - voltage characteristics.
Abstract: A logic model for analyzing complex systems- stability
is very useful to many areas of sciences. In the real world, we are
enlightened from some natural phenomena such as “biosphere", “food
chain", “ecological balance" etc. By research and practice, and taking
advantage of the orthogonality and symmetry defined by the theory of
multilateral matrices, we put forward a logic analysis model of
stability of complex systems with three relations, and prove it by
means of mathematics. This logic model is usually successful in
analyzing stability of a complex system. The structure of the logic
model is not only clear and simple, but also can be easily used to
research and solve many stability problems of complex systems. As an
application, some examples are given.
Abstract: As known that efficiency of photovoltaic cells is not
high as desired level. Efficiency of PVs could be improved by
selecting convenient locations that have high solar irradiation,
sunshine duration, mild temperature, low level air pollution and dust
concentration. Additionally, some environmental parameters called
derating factors effect to decrease PV efficiencies such as cloud, high
temperature, aerosol optical depth, high dust concentration, shadow,
snow, humidity etc. In this paper, all parameters that effect PV
efficiency are considered in detail under climatic conditions of
Istanbul. A 750 Wp PV system with measurement devices is
constructed in Maslak campus of Istanbul Technical University.
Abstract: In the present work, an attempt has been made to
understand the feasibility of using UHF technique for identification
of any corona discharges/ arcing in insulating material due to water
droplets. The sensors of broadband type are useful for identification
of such discharges. It is realised that arcing initiated by liquid droplet
radiates UHF signals in the entire bandwidth up to 2 GHz. The
frequency content of the UHF signal generated due to corona/arcing
is not much varied in epoxy nanocomposites with different weight
percentage of clay content. The exfoliated/intercalated properties
were analysed through TEM studies. It is realized that corona
initiated discharges are of intermittent process. The hydrophobicity
of the material characterized through contact angle measurement. It
is realized that low Wt % of nanoclay content in epoxy resin reduces
the surface carbonization due to arcing/corona discharges. The results
of the study with gamma irradiated specimen indicates that contact
angle, discharge inception time and evaporation time of the liquid are
much lower than the virgin epoxy nanocomposite material.
Abstract: In today-s competitive global business environment,
the concept of supply chain management (SCM) continues to become
increasingly market-oriented, shifting the primary driver of the value
chain from supply to demand. Recent recommendations encourage
researchers to focus investigations on the supply chain process
integration (SCPI) capabilities that integrate a focal firm with its
network of suppliers and business customers to create value for it.
However, theoretical and empirical researches pertaining to the
antecedents and consequences of a focal firm-s SCPI capabilities have
been limited and piecemeal. The purpose of this study is to investigate
the critical determinants and consequences of a focal firm-s SCPI
capabilities. We test our proposed research framework using a sample
of 139 sales managers of manufacturing industries in Taiwan, our
research findings show that (1) both perceived business customer-s
power and focal firm-s market-oriented culture positively influences a
focal firm-s SCPI capabilities, and (2) SCPI capabilities positively
influence a focal firm-s SCM performance, both operational and
strategic benefits. Implications for practitioners and researchers and
suggestions for future research are also addressed in this study.
Abstract: Quaternary InxAlyGa1-x-yN semiconductors have
attracted much research interest because the use of this quaternary
offer the great flexibility in tailoring their band gap profile while
maintaining their lattice-matching and structural integrity. The
structural and optical properties of InxAlyGa1-x-yN alloys grown by
molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is presented. The structural quality of
InxAlyGa1-x-yN layers was characterized using high-resolution X-ray
diffraction (HRXRD). The results confirm that the InxAlyGa1-x-yN
films had wurtzite structure and without phase separation. As the In
composition increases, the Bragg angle of the (0002) InxAlyGa1-x-yN
peak gradually decreases, indicating the increase in the lattice constant
c of the alloys. FWHM of (0002) InxAlyGa1-x-yN decreases with
increasing In composition from 0 to 0.04, that could indicate the
decrease of quality of the samples due to point defects leading to
non-uniformity of the epilayers. UV-VIS spectroscopy have been used
to study the energy band gap of InxAlyGa1-x-yN. As the indium (In)
compositions increases, the energy band gap decreases. However, for
InxAlyGa1-x-yN with In composition of 0.1, the band gap shows a
sudden increase in energy. This is probably due to local alloy
compositional fluctuations in the epilayer. The bowing parameter
which appears also to be very sensitive on In content is investigated
and obtained b = 50.08 for quaternary InxAlyGa1-x-yN alloys. From
photoluminescence (PL) measurement, green luminescence (GL)
appears at PL spectrum of InxAlyGa1-x-yN, emitted for all x at ~530 nm
and it become more pronounced as the In composition (x) increased,
which is believed cause by gallium vacancies and related to isolated
native defects.
Abstract: Operational safety of critical systems, such as nuclear power plants, industrial chemical processes and means of transportation, is a major concern for system engineers and operators. A means to assure that is on-line safety monitors that deliver three safety tasks; fault detection and diagnosis, alarm annunciation and fault controlling. While current monitors deliver these tasks, benefits and limitations in their approaches have at the same time been highlighted. Drawing from those benefits, this paper develops a distributed monitor based on semi-independent agents, i.e. a multiagent system, and monitoring knowledge derived from a safety assessment model of the monitored system. Agents are deployed hierarchically and provided with knowledge portions and collaboration protocols to reason and integrate over the operational conditions of the components of the monitored system. The monitor aims to address limitations arising from the large-scale, complicated behaviour and distributed nature of monitored systems and deliver the aforementioned three monitoring tasks effectively.
Abstract: This paper investigates vortex shedding processes
occurring at the end of a stack of parallel plates, due to an oscillating
flow induced by an acoustic standing wave within an acoustic
resonator. Here, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is used to quantify
the vortex shedding processes within an acoustic cycle
phase-by-phase, in particular during the “ejection" of the fluid out of
the stack. Standard hot-wire anemometry measurement is also applied
to detect the velocity fluctuations near the end of the stack.
Combination of these two measurement techniques allowed a detailed
analysis of the vortex shedding phenomena. The results obtained show
that, as the Reynolds number varies (by varying the plate thickness
and drive ratio), different flow patterns of vortex shedding are
observed by the PIV measurement. On the other hand, the
time-dependent hot-wire measurements allow obtaining detailed
frequency spectra of the velocity signal, used for calculating
characteristic Strouhal numbers. The impact of the plate thickness and
the Reynolds number on the vortex shedding pattern has been
discussed. Furthermore, a detailed map of the relationship between the
Strouhal number and Reynolds number has been obtained and
discussed.
Abstract: The iris recognition technology is the most accurate,
fast and less invasive one compared to other biometric techniques
using for example fingerprints, face, retina, hand geometry, voice or
signature patterns. The system developed in this study has the
potential to play a key role in areas of high-risk security and can
enable organizations with means allowing only to the authorized
personnel a fast and secure way to gain access to such areas. The
paper aim is to perform the iris region detection and iris inner and
outer boundaries localization. The system was implemented on
windows platform using Visual C# programming language. It is easy
and efficient tool for image processing to get great performance
accuracy. In particular, the system includes two main parts. The first
is to preprocess the iris images by using Canny edge detection
methods, segments the iris region from the rest of the image and
determine the location of the iris boundaries by applying Hough
transform. The proposed system tested on 756 iris images from 60
eyes of CASIA iris database images.
Abstract: Vortex-shedding phenomenon of the flow
around combined two bodies having various geometries and sizes has been investigated experimentally in the Reynolds
number range between 4.1x103 and 1.75x104. To see the effect
of the rotation of the bodies on the vortex shedding, the
combined bodies were rotated from 0° to 180°. The combined models have a cross section composing of a main circular cylinder and an attached circular or square cylinder. Results
have shown that Strouhal numbers for two cases were
changed considerably with the angle of incidence, while it was found to be largely independent of Reynolds number at 150. Characteristics of the vortex formation region and
location of flow attachments, reattachments, and separations
were observed by means of the flow visualizations.
Depending on the inclination angle the effects of flow
attachment, separation and reattachment on vortex-shedding phenomenon have been discussed.