Abstract: Self-compacting concrete (SCC), a new kind of high
performance concrete (HPC) have been first developed in Japan in
1986. The development of SCC has made casting of dense
reinforcement and mass concrete convenient, has minimized noise.
Fresh self-compacting concrete (SCC) flows into formwork and
around obstructions under its own weight to fill it completely and
self-compact (without any need for vibration), without any
segregation and blocking. The elimination of the need for
compaction leads to better quality concrete and substantial
improvement of working conditions. SCC mixes generally have a
much higher content of fine fillers, including cement, and produce
excessively high compressive strength concrete, which restricts its
field of application to special concrete only. To use SCC mixes in
general concrete construction practice, requires low cost materials to
make inexpensive concrete.
Rice husk ash (RHA) has been used as a highly reactive
pozzolanic material to improve the microstructure of the interfacial
transition zone (ITZ) between the cement paste and the aggregate in
self compacting concrete. Mechanical experiments of RHA blended
Portland cement concretes revealed that in addition to the pozzolanic
reactivity of RHA (chemical aspect), the particle grading (physical
aspect) of cement and RHA mixtures also exerted significant
influences on the blending efficiency.
The scope of this research was to determine the usefulness of Rice
husk ash (RHA) in the development of economical self compacting
concrete (SCC). The cost of materials will be decreased by reducing
the cement content by using waste material like rice husk ash instead
of.
This paper presents a study on the development of Mechanical
properties up to 180 days of self compacting and ordinary concretes
with rice-husk ash (RHA), from a rice paddy milling industry in
Rasht (Iran). Two different replacement percentages of cement by
RHA, 10%, and 20%, and two different water/cementicious material
ratios (0.40 and 0.35), were used for both of self compacting and
normal concrete specimens. The results are compared with those of
the self compacting concrete without RHA, with compressive,
flexural strength and modulus of elasticity. It is concluded that RHA
provides a positive effect on the Mechanical properties at age after
60 days.
Base of the result self compacting concrete specimens have higher
value than normal concrete specimens in all test except modulus of
elasticity. Also specimens with 20% replacement of cement by RHA
have the best performance.
Abstract: This study examines causal link between energy use and economic growth for five South Asian countries over period 1971-2006. Panel cointegration, ECM and FMOLS are applied for short and long run estimates. In short run unidirectional causality from per capita GDP to per capita energy consumption is found, but not vice versa. In long run one percent increase in per capita energy consumption tend to decrease 0.13 percent per capita GDP. i.e. Energy use discourage economic growth. This short and long run relationship indicate energy shortage crisis in South Asia due to increased energy use coupled with insufficient energy supply. Beside this long run estimated coefficient of error term suggest that short term adjustment to equilibrium are driven by adjustment back to long run equilibrium. Moreover, per capita energy consumption is responsive to adjustment back to equilibrium and it takes 59 years approximately. It specifies long run feedback between both variables.
Abstract: The design of an active leg orthosis for tumble
protection is proposed in this paper. The orthosis would be applied to
assist elders or invalids in rebalancing while they fall unexpectedly.
We observe the regain balance motion of healthy and youthful people,
and find the difference to elders or invalids. First, the physical model
of leg would be established, and we consider the leg motions are
achieve through four joints (phalanx stem, ankle, knee, and hip joint)
and five links (phalanges, talus, tibia, femur, and hip bone). To
formulate the dynamic equations, the coordinates which can clearly
describe the position in 3D space are first defined accordance with the
human movement of leg, and the kinematics and dynamics of the leg
movement can be formulated based on the robotics. For the purpose,
assisting elders and invalids in avoiding tumble, the posture variation
of unbalance and regaining balance motion are recorded by the
motion-capture image system, and the trajectory is taken as the desire
one. Then we calculate the force and moment of each joint based on
the leg motion model through programming MATLAB code. The
results would be primary information of the active leg orthosis design
for tumble protection.
Abstract: Lignocellulosic materials are new targeted source to
produce second generation biofuels like biobutanol. However, this
process is significantly resisted by the native structure of biomass.
Therefore, pretreatment process is always essential to remove
hemicelluloses and lignin prior to the enzymatic hydrolysis.
The goals of pretreatment are removing hemicelluloses and
lignin, increasing biomass porosity, and increasing the enzyme
accessibility. The main goal of this research is to study the important
variables such as pretreatment temperature and time, which can give
the highest total sugar yield in pretreatment step by using dilute
phosphoric acid. After pretreatment, the highest total sugar yield of
13.61 g/L was obtained under an optimal condition at 140°C for 10
min of pretreatment time by using 1.75% (w/w) H3PO4 and at 15:1
liquid to solid ratio. The total sugar yield of two-stage process
(pretreatment+enzymatic hydrolysis) of 27.38 g/L was obtained.
Abstract: Resource-constrained project scheduling is an NPhard
optimisation problem. There are many different heuristic
strategies how to shift activities in time when resource requirements
exceed their available amounts. These strategies are frequently based
on priorities of activities. In this paper, we assume that a suitable
heuristic has been chosen to decide which activities should be
performed immediately and which should be postponed and
investigate the resource-constrained project scheduling problem
(RCPSP) from the implementation point of view. We propose an
efficient routine that, instead of shifting the activities, extends their
duration. It makes it possible to break down their duration into active
and sleeping subintervals. Then we can apply the classical Critical
Path Method that needs only polynomial running time. This
algorithm can simply be adapted for multiproject scheduling with
limited resources.
Abstract: As a company competitiveness depends more and more on the relationship with its stakeholders, the topic of companystakeholder fit is becoming increasingly important. This fit affects the extent to which a stakeholder perceives CSR company commitment, values and behaviors and, therefore, stakeholder identification in a company and his/her loyalty to it. Consequently, it is important to measure the alignment or the gap between stakeholder CSR demands, values, preferences and perceptions, and the company CSR disclosed commitment, values and policies. In this paper, in order to assess the company-stakeholder fit about corporate responsibility, an innovative CSR fit positioning matrix is proposed. This matrix is based on the measurement of a company CSR disclosed commitment and stakeholder perceived and required commitment. The matrix is part of a more complex methodology based on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators, content analysis and stakeholder questionnaires. This methodology provides appropriate indications for helping companies to achieve CSR company-stakeholder fit, by leveraging both CSR commitment and communication. Moreover, it could be used by top management for comparing different companies and stakeholders, and for planning specific CSR strategies, policies and activities.
Abstract: Although there are many theories and discussion of leadership, the necessity of having a new leadership paradigm was emphasized. The existing leadership characteristic of instruction and control revealed its limitations. Market competition becomes fierce and economic recession never ends worldwide. Of the leadership theories, servant leadership was introduced recently and is in line with the environmental changes of the organization. Servant leadership is a combination of two words, 'servant' and 'leader' and can be defined as the role of the leader who focuses on doing voluntary work for others with altruistic ethics, makes members, customers, and local communities a priority, and makes a commitment to satisfying their needs. This leadership received attention as one field of leadership in the late 1990s and secured its legitimacy. This study discusses the existing research trends of leadership, the concept, behavior characteristics, and lower dimensions of servant leadership, compares servant leadership with the existing leadership researches and diagnoses if servant leadership is a useful concept for further leadership researches. Finally, this study criticizes the limitations in the existing researches on servant leadership.
Abstract: The subject of the paper is comparative analysis of the hotel guest-s contractual liability for breaching the obligation for non-payment of hotel services in the hotel-keeper-s contract. The paper is methodologically conceived of six chapters (1. introduction, 2. comparative law sources of the hotel-keeper-s contract, 3. the guest-s obligation for payment of hotel services, 4. hotel guest's liability for non-payment, 5. the hotel-keeper-s rights due to nonpayment and 6. conclusion), which analyzes the guest-s liability for non-payment of hotel services through the international law, European law, euro-continental national laws (France, Germany, Italy, Croatia) and Anglo-American national laws (UK, USA). The paper-s results are the synthesis of answers to the set hypothesis and comparative review of hotel guest-s contractual liability for nonpayment of hotel services provided. In conclusion, it is necessary to adopt an international convention on the hotel-keeper-s contract, which would unify the institute of the hotel guest-s contractual liability for non-payment of hotel services at the international level.
Abstract: In this paper a novel scheme for watermarking digital
audio during its compression to MPEG-1 Layer III format is
proposed. For this purpose we slightly modify some of the selected
MDCT coefficients, which are used during MPEG audio
compression procedure. Due to the possibility of modifying different
MDCT coefficients, there will be different choices for embedding the
watermark into audio data, considering robustness and transparency
factors. Our proposed method uses a genetic algorithm to select the
best coefficients to embed the watermark. This genetic selection is
done according to the parameters that are extracted from the
perceptual content of the audio to optimize the robustness and
transparency of the watermark. On the other hand the watermark
security is increased due to the random nature of the genetic
selection. The information of the selected MDCT coefficients that
carry the watermark bits, are saves in a database for future extraction
of the watermark. The proposed method is suitable for online MP3
stores to pursue illegal copies of musical artworks. Experimental
results show that the detection ratio of the watermarks at the bitrate
of 128kbps remains above 90% while the inaudibility of the
watermark is preserved.
Abstract: This study aims to explore the differences and
similarities in perceptions of affective climate antecedents at the
workplace (intimacy, flexibility, employment stability, and team)
among Japanese and Thai Generations X and Y. The samples in this
study were Thai and Japanese workers who completed a work
environment questionnaire and provided demographic information.
Generational differences in perceptions (beliefs) of what factors
contribute to affective climate were investigated using t-test analysis.
Mean scores for each antecedent were ranked to determine how each
generation in each group prioritized the importance of all affective
climate antecedents. Japanese Generation Y perceived the importance
of employment stability for affective climate of their workplaces to be
significantly higher than did Japanese Generation X. Thai Generation
Y considered flexibility with a higher priority than did Thai
Generation X. Intimacy was perceived as highly important across
generations and countries in regard to affective climate. Results
suggest that managers should design workplaces for a mixture of
diverse generations, resulting in a better affective climate. Differences
in the importance of antecedents for affective climate among
Generations X and Y in two countries were clarified. In addition,
different preferences regarding work environment across Japanese
Generations X and Y and Thai Generations X and Y were discussed.
Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to analyze the
relationship of leisure agriculture park visitors on tourist destination
image, environmental perception, travel experiences and revisiting
willingness. This study used questionnaires to Xinshe leisure
agriculture park visitors- targeted convenience sampling manner total
of 636 valid questionnaires. Valid questionnaires by descriptive
statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis, the
study found that: 1. The agricultural park visitors- correlations exist
between the destination image, perception of the environment, tourism
experience and revisiting willingness. 2."Excellent facilities and
services", "space atmosphere comfortable" and "the spacious paternity
outdoor space" imagery, of visitors- "revisiting willingness predict. 3.
Visitors- in leisure agriculture park "environmental perception" and
"travel experience, future revisiting willingness predict. According to
the analysis of the results, the study not only operate on the
recommendations of the leisure farm owners also provide follow-up
study direction for future researchers.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand how
consumers react to a company's promotional offers with mobile
applications (APP) as premiums. This paper presents the results of an
experimental study where five features of APP were involved: the
cost (free/discounted) for earning APP, the relationship between APP
and the promoted product, the perceived usefulness, the perceived
ease of use, and the perceived playfulness of APP in the context of
light foods purchase. The results support that the above features,
except perceived ease of use, have substantial influences on
consumers' intention to adopt the APP. Among the five features, the
cost for earning APP has the most impact on the adopting intention
of APP. The study also found a positive influence of adopting
intention of APP on the consumer's purchase intention of the
promoted product. Thus, APP-based premiums may enhance the
consumer's purchase intention of a company's promoted products.
Abstract: This paper proposes a novel game theoretical
technique to address the problem of data object replication in largescale
distributed computing systems. The proposed technique draws
inspiration from computational economic theory and employs the
extended Vickrey auction. Specifically, players in a non-cooperative
environment compete for server-side scarce memory space to
replicate data objects so as to minimize the total network object
transfer cost, while maintaining object concurrency. Optimization of
such a cost in turn leads to load balancing, fault-tolerance and
reduced user access time. The method is experimentally evaluated
against four well-known techniques from the literature: branch and
bound, greedy, bin-packing and genetic algorithms. The experimental
results reveal that the proposed approach outperforms the four
techniques in both the execution time and solution quality.
Abstract: ERP systems are often supposed to be implemented
and deployed in multi-national companies. On the other hand, an
ERP developer may plan to market and sale its product in various
countries. Therefore, an EPR system should have the ability to
communicate with its users, who usually have different languages
and cultures, in a suitable way. EPR support of Multilanguage
capability is a solution to achieve this objective. In this paper, an
agent oriented architecture including several independent but
cooperative agents has been suggested that helps to implement
Multilanguage EPR systems.
Abstract: Lack of resources for road infrastructure financing is a
problem that currently affects not only eastern European economies
but also many other countries especially in relation to the impact of
global financial crisis. In this context, we are talking about the socalled
short-investment problem as a result of long-term lack of
investment resources. Based on an analysis of road infrastructure
financing in the Czech Republic this article points out at weaknesses
of current system and proposes a long-term planning methodology
supported by system approach. Within this methodology and using
created system dynamic model the article predicts the development of
short-investment problem in the Country and in reaction on the
downward trend of certain sources the article presents various
scenarios resulting from the change of the structure of financial
sources. In the discussion the article focuses more closely on the
possibility of introduction of tax on vehicles instead of taxes with
declining revenue streams and estimates its approximate price in
relation to reaching various solutions of short-investment in time.
Abstract: Applying corona wind as a novel technique can lead
to a great level of heat and mass transfer augmentation by using very
small amount of energy. Enhancement of forced flow evaporation
rate by applying electric field (corona wind) has been experimentally
evaluated in this study. Corona wind produced by a fine wire
electrode which is charged with positive high DC voltage impinges
to water surface and leads to evaporation enhancement by disturbing
the saturated air layer over water surface. The study was focused on
the effect of corona wind velocity, electrode spacing and air flow
velocity on the level of evaporation enhancement. Two sets of
experiments, i.e. with and without electric field, have been
conducted. Data obtained from the first experiment were used as
reference for evaluation of evaporation enhancement at the presence
of electric field. Applied voltages ranged from corona threshold
voltage to spark over voltage at 1 kV increments. The results showed
that corona wind has great enhancement effect on water evaporation
rate, but its effectiveness gradually diminishes by increasing air flow
velocity. Maximum enhancements were 7.3 and 3.6 for air velocities
of 0.125 and 1.75 m/s, respectively.
Abstract: Retinal vascularity assessment plays an important role in diagnosis of ophthalmic pathologies. The employment of digital images for this purpose makes possible a computerized approach and has motivated development of many methods for automated vascular tree segmentation. Metrics based on contingency tables for binary classification have been widely used for evaluating performance of these algorithms and, concretely, the accuracy has been mostly used as measure of global performance in this topic. However, this metric shows very poor matching with human perception as well as other notable deficiencies. Here, a new similarity function for measuring quality of retinal vessel segmentations is proposed. This similarity function is based on characterizing the vascular tree as a connected structure with a measurable area and length. Tests made indicate that this new approach shows better behaviour than the current one does. Generalizing, this concept of measuring descriptive properties may be used for designing functions for measuring more successfully segmentation quality of other complex structures.
Abstract: In the present study, the response of Nili Ravi buffalo
oocytes to recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone (rhFSH)
(Organon) on meiotic maturation in vitro was examined. Oocytes
were matured in vitro in medium containing either 0 or 0.05 IU/ ml
rhFSH and the stage of nuclear maturation recorded after 24 hours.
The percentage of oocytes in the control group undergoing germinal
vesicle breakdown (GVBD) observed after 24 hours of culture was
29 % whereas as in rhFSH group the percentage was 10 % were at
this stage (P< 0.001).Thus in the presence of rhFSH, a significantly
greater number of oocytes had progressed to the more advanced
stages of nuclear maturation. Indeed, the maturation of GV
(Germinal Vesicle) stage oocytes to the metaphase II (M II) stage
after 24 hours was significantly (P< 0.0001) increased by the
addition of rhFSH (82 % VS 47 %). The percentage of degenerated
oocytes after 24 hours of culture was 24 % in control group, whereas
in rhFSH group the percentage was 8 % after 24 hours. Degeneration
of the oocytes after 24 hours was not significantly (P = 0. 9361)
decreased.
Abstract: Social resilience has role to govern the local community and coastal fisheries resources toward sustainable fisheries development in tsunami affected area. This paper asses, explore and investigates of indigenous institutions, external and internal facilitators toward strengthening social resilience. Identification of the genuine organizations role had been conducted twice by using Rapid Assessment Appraisal, Focus Group Discussion, and in-depth interview for collecting primary and secondary data. Local wisdom had a contribution and adaptable to rebound social resilience. The Panglima Laot Lhok (sea commander) had determined and adapted role on recovery of the fishing community, particularly facilitated aid delivery to fishermen, as shown in anchovy fisheries relief case in Krueng Raya Bay. Toke Bangku (financial trader) had stimulated for reinforcement of advance payment and market channel. The other institutions supported upon linking and bridging connectivity among stakeholders. Collaborative governance can avoid conflict, reduce donor dependency and strengthen social resilience within fishing community.
Abstract: The intent of this essay is to evaluate the effectiveness
of surge suppressor aimed at power supply used for automation
devices in power distribution system which is consist of MOV and
T type low-pass filter. Books, journal articles and e-sources related
to surge protection of power supply used for automation devices in
power distribution system were consulted, and the useful information
was organized, analyzed and developed into five parts: characteristics
of surge wave, protection against surge wave, impedance characteristics
of target, using Matlab to simulate circuit response after
5kV,1.2/50s surge wave and suggestions for surge protection. The
results indicate that various types of load situation have great impact
on the effectiveness of surge protective device. Therefore, type and
parameters of surge protective device need to be carefully selected,
and load matching is also vital to be concerned.