Abstract: This study investigates how the site specific traffic
data differs from the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design
Software default values. Two Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) stations were
installed in Interstate-40 (I-40) and Interstate-25 (I-25) to developed
site specific data. A computer program named WIM Data Analysis
Software (WIMDAS) was developed using Microsoft C-Sharp (.Net)
for quality checking and processing of raw WIM data. A complete
year data from November 2013 to October 2014 was analyzed using
the developed WIM Data Analysis Program. After that, the vehicle
class distribution, directional distribution, lane distribution, monthly
adjustment factor, hourly distribution, axle load spectra, average
number of axle per vehicle, axle spacing, lateral wander distribution,
and wheelbase distribution were calculated. Then a comparative
study was done between measured data and AASHTOWare default
values. It was found that the measured general traffic inputs for I-40
and I-25 significantly differ from the default values.
Abstract: Job satisfaction and motivation have been given an
important attention in psychology because they are seen as main
instruments in maintaining organizational growth and development;
they are also used to accomplish organizational aims and objectives.
However, it has been observed that some institutions failed in
motivating and stimulating their workers; in contrast, workers may be
motivated but not satisfied with the job and failed to perform
efficiently and effectively. It is hoped that the study of this nature
would be of significance value to all stakeholders in education
specifically, lecturers in higher institutions in Nigeria. Also, it is
hoped that the findings of this study will enhance lecturers’
effectiveness and performance in discharging their duties. In the light
of the above statements, this study investigated whether job
satisfaction and motivation predict lecturers’ effectiveness in Nigeria
Police Academy, Wudil, Kano State. Correlational research method
was adopted for the study, while purposive sampling technique was
used to choose the institution and the sampled lectures (70). Simple
random sampling technique was used to select one hundred cadets
across the academy. Two instruments were used to elicit information
from both lecturers and cadets. These were job satisfaction and
motivation; and lecturers’ effectiveness Questionnaires. The
instruments were subjected to pilot testing and found to have
reliability coefficient of 0.69 and 0.71 respectively. The results of the
study revealed that there was a significance relationship among job
satisfaction, motivation and lecturers effectiveness in Nigeria Police
Academy. There was a significance relationship between job
satisfaction and lecturers’ effectiveness in Nigeria Police Academy
the cal r is 0.21 while the crt r is 0.19. at p
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to specify factors influencing
the profitability of selected banks. Next, a model will be created to
help establish variables that have a demonstrable influence on the
development of the selected banks' profitability ratios. Czech banks
and their international parent companies were selected for analyzing
profitability. Banks categorized as large banks (according to the
Czech National Bank's system, which ranks banks according to
balance sheet total) were selected to represent the Czech banks. Two
ratios, the return on assets ratio (ROA) and the return on equity ratio
(ROE) are used to assess bank profitability. Six endogenous and four
external indicators were selected from among other factors that
influence bank profitability. The data analyzed were for 2001–2013.
First, correlation analysis, which was supposed to eliminate
correlated values, was conducted. A large number of correlated
values were established on the basis of this analysis. The strongly
correlated values were omitted. Despite this, the subsequent
regression analysis of profitability for the individual banks that were
selected did not confirm that the selected variables influenced their
profitability. The studied factors' influence on bank profitability was
demonstrated only for Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka and Société
Générale using regression analysis. For Československa Obchodni
Banka, it was demonstrated that inflation level and the amount of the
central bank's interest rate influenced the return on assets ratio and
that capital adequacy and market concentration influenced the return
on equity ratio for Société Générale.
Abstract: We regard forecasting of energy consumption by
private production areas of a large industrial facility as well as by the
facility itself. As for production areas, the forecast is made based on
empirical dependencies of the specific energy consumption and the
production output. As for the facility itself, implementation of the
task to minimize the energy consumption forecasting error is based
on adjustment of the facility’s actual energy consumption values
evaluated with the metering device and the total design energy
consumption of separate production areas of the facility. The
suggested procedure of optimal energy consumption was tested based
on the actual data of core product output and energy consumption by
a group of workshops and power plants of the large iron and steel
facility. Test results show that implementation of this procedure gives
the mean accuracy of energy consumption forecasting for winter
2014 of 0.11% for the group of workshops and 0.137% for the power
plants.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) live yeast culture on microbial
protein supply to small intestine in Kivircik male yearlings when fed
with different ratio of forage and concentrate diets. Four Kivircik
male yearlings with permanent rumen canula were used in the
experiment. The treatments were allocated to a 4x4 Latin square
design. Diet I consisted of 70% alfalfa hay and 30% concentrate, Diet
II consisted of 30% alfalfa hay and 70% concentrate, Diet I and II
were supplemented with a SC. Daily urine was collected and stored at
-20°C until analysis. Calorimetric methods were used for the
determination of urinary allantoin and creatinine levels. The
estimated microbial N supply to small intestine for Diets I, I+SC, II
and II+SC were 2.51, 2.64, 2.95 and 3.43 g N/d respectively.
Supplementation of Diets I and II with SC significantly affected the
allantoin levels in μmol/W0.75 (p
Abstract: We have studied the temporal characteristics of
bistable perception of the stimuli of two types: one involves
alterations in a perceived depth and another one has an ambiguous
content. We used the Necker lattice and lines of shadowed circles
ambiguously perceived either as spheres or holes as stimuli of the
first type. The Winson figure (the Eskimo/Indian picture) was a
stimulus of the second type. We have analyzed how often the
reversals occurred (reversal rate) and for how long each of the two
interpretations, or percepts, was observed during one presentation
(stability durations). For all three ambiguous images the reversal rate
and the stability durations had similar values, which provide another
evidence for a significant role of top-down processes in multistable
perception.
Abstract: Concurrent planning of project scheduling and
material ordering has been increasingly addressed within last decades
as an approach to improve the project execution costs. Therefore, we
have taken the problem into consideration in this paper, aiming to
maximize schedules quality robustness, in addition to minimize the
relevant costs. In this regard, a bi-objective mathematical model is
developed to formulate the problem. Moreover, it is possible to
utilize the all-unit discount for materials purchasing. The problem is
then solved by the E-constraint method, and the Pareto front is
obtained for a variety of robustness values. The applicability and
efficiency of the proposed model is tested by different numerical
instances, finally.
Abstract: The modelling of physical phenomena, such as the
earth’s free oscillations, the vibration of strings, the interaction of
atomic particles, or the steady state flow in a bar give rise to Sturm-
Liouville (SL) eigenvalue problems. The boundary applications of
some systems like the convection-diffusion equation, electromagnetic
and heat transfer problems requires the combination of Dirichlet and
Neumann boundary conditions. Hence, the incorporation of Robin
boundary condition in the analyses of Sturm-Liouville problem. This
paper deals with the computation of the eigenvalues and
eigenfunction of generalized Sturm-Liouville problems with Robin
boundary condition using the finite element method. Numerical
solution of classical Sturm–Liouville problem is presented. The
results show an agreement with the exact solution. High results
precision is achieved with higher number of elements.
Abstract: This research work presents the surface
thermodynamics approach to M-TB/HIV-Human sputum
interactions. This involved the use of the Hamaker coefficient
concept as a surface energetics tool in determining the interaction
processes, with the surface interfacial energies explained using van
der Waals concept of particle interactions. The Lifshitz derivation for
van der Waals forces was applied as an alternative to the contact
angle approach which has been widely used in other biological
systems. The methodology involved taking sputum samples from
twenty infected persons and from twenty uninfected persons for
absorbance measurement using a digital Ultraviolet visible
Spectrophotometer. The variables required for the computations with
the Lifshitz formula were derived from the absorbance data. The
Matlab software tools were used in the mathematical analysis of the
data produced from the experiments (absorbance values). The
Hamaker constants and the combined Hamaker coefficients were
obtained using the values of the dielectric constant together with the
Lifshitz Equation. The absolute combined Hamaker coefficients
A132abs and A131abs on both infected and uninfected sputum samples
gave the values of A132abs = 0.21631x10-21Joule for M-TB infected
sputum and Ã132abs = 0.18825x10-21Joule for M-TB/HIV infected
sputum. The significance of this result is the positive value of the
absolute combined Hamaker coefficient which suggests the existence
of net positive van der waals forces demonstrating an attraction
between the bacteria and the macrophage. This however, implies that
infection can occur. It was also shown that in the presence of HIV,
the interaction energy is reduced by 13% conforming adverse effects
observed in HIV patients suffering from tuberculosis.
Abstract: In Algeria, the conditioning units of dates, generate
significant quantities of waste arising from sorting deviations. This
biomass, until then considered as a waste with high impact on the
environment can be transformed into high value added product. It is
possible to develop common dates of low commercial value, and put
on the local and international market a new generation of products
with high added values such as bio ethanol. Besides its use in
chemical synthesis, bio ethanol can be blended with gasoline to
produce a clean fuel while improving the octane.
Abstract: A number of studies have been conducted recently to
investigate the influence of randomly oriented fibers on some
engineering properties of cohesive and cohesionless soils. However,
few studies have been carried out on freezing-thawing behavior of
fine-grained soils modified with discrete fiber inclusions and additive
materials. This experimental study was performed to investigate the
effect of randomly distributed polypropylene fibers (PP) and some
additive materials [e.g.., borogypsum (BG), fly ash (FA) and cement
(C)] on freezing-thawing durability (mass losses) of a fine-grained
soil for 6, 12, and 18 cycles. The Taguchi method was applied to the
experiments and a standard L9 orthogonal array (OA) with four
factors and three levels were chosen. A series of freezing-thawing
tests were conducted on each specimen. 0-20% BG, 0-20% FA, 0-
0.25% PP and 0-3% of C by total dry weight of mixture were used in
the preparation of specimens. Experimental results showed that the
most effective materials for the freezing-thawing durability (mass
losses) of the samples were borogypsum and fly ash. The values of
mass losses for 6, 12 and 18 cycles in optimum conditions were
16.1%, 5.1% and 3.6%, respectively.
Abstract: To maintain a healthy balanced loyalty, whether to art
or society, posits a debatable issue. The artist is always on the look
out for the potential tension between those two realms. Therefore,
one of the most painful dilemmas the artist finds is how to function in
a society without sacrificing the aesthetic values of his/her work. In
other words, the life-long awareness of failure which derives from the
concept of the artist as caught between unflattering social realities
and the need to invent genuine art forms becomes a fertilizing soil for
the artists to be tackled. Thus, within the framework of this dilemma,
the question of the responsibility of the artist and the relationship of
the art to politics will be illuminating. To a larger extent, however, in
drama, this dilemma is represented by the fictional characters of the
play. The present paper tackles the idea of the amorality of the artist in
selected plays by Tom Stoppard. However, Stoppard’s awareness of
his situation as a refugee has led him to keep at a distance from
politics. He tried hard to avoid any intervention into the realms of
political debate, especially in his earliest work. On the one hand, it is
not meant that he did not interest in politics as such, but rather he
preferred to question it than to create a fixed ideological position. On
the other hand, Stoppard’s refusal to intervene in politics is ascribed
to his feeling of gratitude to Britain where he settled. As a result,
Stoppard has frequently been criticized for a lack of political
engagement and also for not leaning too much for the left when he
does engage. His reaction to these public criticisms finds expression
in his self-conscious statements which defensively stressed the
artifice of his work. He, like Oscar Wilde thinks that the
responsibility of the artist is devoted to the realm of his/her art.
Consequently, his consciousness for the role of the artist is truly
reflected in his two plays, Artist Descending a Staircase (1972) and
Travesties (1974).
Abstract: In order to investigate the prebiotic potential of
oligosaccharides prepared by chemical hydrolysis of water-soluble
polysaccharides (WSP) from Zizyphus lotus leaves, the effect of
oligosaccharides on bacterial growth was studied. The chemical
composition of WSP was evaluated by colorimetric assays revealed
the average values: 7.05±0.73% proteins and 86.21±0.74%
carbohydrates, among them 64.81±0.42% is neutral sugar and the rest
16.25±1.62% is uronic acids. The characterization of
monosaccharides was determined by high performance anion
exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection
(HPAEC-PAD) was found to be composed of galactose (23.95%),
glucose (21.30%), rhamnose (20.28%), arabinose (9.55%), and
glucuronic acid (22.95%). The effects of oligosaccharides on the
growth of lactic acid bacteria were compared with those of fructooligosaccharide
(RP95). The oligosaccharides concentration was
1g/L of Man, Rogosa, Sharpe broth. Bacterial growth was assessed
during 2, 4.5, 6.5, 9, 12, 16 and 24 h by measuring the optical density
of the cultures at 600 nm (OD600) and pH values. During
fermentation, pH in broth cultures decreased from 6.7 to 5.87±0.15.
The enumeration of lactic acid bacteria indicated that
oligosaccharides led to a significant increase in bacteria (P≤0.05)
compared to the control. The fermentative metabolism appeared to be
faster on RP95 than on oligosaccharides from Zizyphus lotus leaves.
Both RP95 and oligosaccharides showed clear prebiotic effects, but
had differences in fermentation kinetics because of to the different
degree of polymerization. This study shows the prebiotic
effectiveness of oligosaccharides, and provides proof for the selection
of leaves of Zizyphus lotus for use as functional food ingredients.
Abstract: Within Rapid Prototyping technologies are used many
types of materials. Many of them are recyclable but there are still as
plastic like, so practically they do not degrade in the landfill.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the special plastic materials, which
are biodegradable and available for 3D printing within Fused
Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. The question is, if the
mechanical properties of produced models are comparable to similar
technical plastic materials which are usual for prototype production.
Presented paper shows the experiments results for tensile strength
measurements for specimens prepared with different 3D printer
settings and model orientation. Paper contains also the comparison of
tensile strength values with values measured on specimens produced
by conventional technologies as injection moulding.
Abstract: Given the increase in the number of e-commerce sites,
the number of competitors has become very important. This means
that companies have to take appropriate decisions in order to meet the
expectations of their customers and satisfy their needs. In this paper,
we present a case study of applying LRFM (length, recency,
frequency and monetary) model and clustering techniques in the
sector of electronic commerce with a view to evaluating customers’
values of the Moroccan e-commerce websites and then developing
effective marketing strategies. To achieve these objectives, we adopt
LRFM model by applying a two-stage clustering method. In the first
stage, the self-organizing maps method is used to determine the best
number of clusters and the initial centroid. In the second stage, kmeans
method is applied to segment 730 customers into nine clusters
according to their L, R, F and M values. The results show that the
cluster 6 is the most important cluster because the average values of
L, R, F and M are higher than the overall average value. In addition,
this study has considered another variable that describes the mode of
payment used by customers to improve and strengthen clusters’
analysis. The clusters’ analysis demonstrates that the payment method is
one of the key indicators of a new index which allows to assess the
level of customers’ confidence in the company's Website.
Abstract: The main cause of Alzheimer disease (AD) was
believed to be mainly due to the accumulation of free radicals owing
to oxidative stress (OS) in brain tissue. The mechanism of the
neurotoxicity of Aluminum chloride (AlCl3) induced AD in
hippocampus Albino wister rat brain tissue, the curative & the
protective effects of Lipidium sativum group (LS) water extract were
assessed after 8 weeks by attenuated total reflection spectroscopy
ATR-IR and histologically by light microscope. ATR-IR results
revealed that the membrane phospholipid undergo free radical
attacks, mediated by AlCl3, primary affects the polyunsaturated fatty
acids indicated by the increased of the olefinic -C=CH sub-band area
around 3012 cm-1 from the curve fitting analysis. The narrowing in
the half band width (HBW) of the sνCH2 sub-band around 2852 cm-1
due to Al intoxication indicates the presence of trans form fatty acids
rather than gauch rotomer. The degradation of hydrocarbon chain to
shorter chain length, increasing in membrane fluidity, disorder, and
decreasing in lipid polarity in AlCl3 group indicated by the detected
changes in certain calculated area ratios compared to the control.
Administration of LS was greatly improved these parameters
compared to the AlCl3 group. Al influences the Aβ aggregation and
plaque formation, which in turn interferes to and disrupts the
membrane structure. The results also showed a marked increase in
the β-parallel and antiparallel structure, that characterize the Aβ
formation in Al-induced AD hippocampal brain tissue, indicated by
the detected increase in both amide I sub-bands around 1674, 1692
cm-1. This drastic increase in Aβ formation was greatly reduced in the
curative and protective groups compared to the AlCl3 group and
approached nearly the control values. These results supported too by
the light microscope. AlCl3 group showed significant marked
degenerative changes in hippocampal neurons. Most cells appeared
small, shrieked and deformed. Interestingly, the administration of LS
in curative and protective groups markedly decreases the amount of
degenerated cells compared to the non-treated group. In addition, the
intensity of congo red stained cells was decreased. Hippocampal
neurons looked more/or less similar to those of control. This study showed a promising therapeutic effect of Lipidium
sativum group (LS) on AD rat model that seriously overcome the
signs of oxidative stress on membrane lipid and restore the protein
misfolding.
Abstract: This study was aimed to measure effective transverse
relaxation rates (R2*) in the liver and muscle of normal New Zealand
White (NZW) rabbits. R2* relaxation rate has been widely used in
various hepatic diseases for iron overload by quantifying iron contents
in liver. R2* relaxation rate is defined as the reciprocal of T2*
relaxation time and mainly depends on the constituents of tissue.
Different tissues would have different R2* relaxation rates. The signal
intensity decay in Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be
characterized by R2* relaxation rates. In this study, a 1.5T GE Signa
HDxt whole body MR scanner equipped with an 8-channel high
resolution knee coil was used to observe R2* values in NZW rabbit’s
liver and muscle. Eight healthy NZW rabbits weighted 2 ~ 2.5 kg were
recruited. After anesthesia using Zoletil 50 and Rompun 2% mixture,
the abdomen of rabbit was landmarked at the center of knee coil to
perform 3-plane localizer scan using fast spoiled gradient echo
(FSPGR) pulse sequence. Afterwards, multi-planar fast gradient echo
(MFGR) scans were performed with 8 various echo times (TEs) to
acquire images for R2* measurements. Regions of interest (ROIs) at
liver and muscle were measured using Advantage workstation.
Finally, the R2* was obtained by a linear regression of ln(sı) on TE.
The results showed that the longer the echo time, the smaller the signal
intensity. The R2* values of liver and muscle were 44.8 ± 10.9 s-1 and
37.4 ± 9.5 s-1, respectively. It implies that the iron concentration of
liver is higher than that of muscle. In conclusion, the more the iron
contents in tissue, the higher the R2*. The correlations between R2*
and iron content in NZW rabbits might be valuable for further
exploration.
Abstract: High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
method was developed and validated for simultaneous estimation of
6-Gingerol(6G) and 6-Shogaol(6S) in joint pain relief gel containing
ginger extract. The chromatographic separation was achieved by
using C18 column, 150 x 4.6mm i.d., 5μ Luna, mobile phase
containing acetonitrile and water (gradient elution). The flow rate
was 1.0 ml/min and the absorbance was monitored at 282 nm. The
proposed method was validated in terms of the analytical parameters
such as specificity, accuracy, precision, linearity, range, limit of
detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), and determined
based on the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH)
guidelines. The linearity ranges of 6G and 6S were obtained over 20-
60 and 6-18 μg/ml respectively. Good linearity was observed over the
above-mentioned range with linear regression equation Y= 11016x-
23778 for 6G and Y = 19276x-19604 for 6S (x is concentration of
analytes in μg/ml and Y is peak area). The value of correlation
coefficient was found to be 0.9994 for both markers. The limit of
detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for 6G were
0.8567 and 2.8555 μg/ml and for 6S were 0.3672 and 1.2238 μg/ml
respectively. The recovery range for 6G and 6S were found to be
91.57 to 102.36 % and 84.73 to 92.85 % for all three spiked levels.
The RSD values from repeated extractions for 6G and 6S were 3.43
and 3.09% respectively. The validation of developed method on
precision, accuracy, specificity, linearity, and range were also
performed with well-accepted results.
Abstract: A geoelectric survey was carried out in some parts of
Angwan Gwari, an outskirt of Lapai Local Government Area on
Niger State which belongs to the Nigerian Basement Complex, with
the aim of evaluating the soil corrosivity, aquifer transmissivity and
protective capacity of the area from which aquifer characterisation
was made. The G41 Resistivity Meter was employed to obtain fifteen
Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding data along profiles in a
square grid network. The data were processed using interpex 1-D
sounding inversion software, which gives vertical electrical sounding
curves with layered model comprising of the apparent resistivities,
overburden thicknesses, and depth. This information was used to
evaluate longitudinal conductance and transmissivities of the layers.
The results show generally low resistivities across the survey area
and an average longitudinal conductance variation from
0.0237Siemens in VES 6 to 0.1261Siemens in VES 15 with almost
the entire area giving values less than 1.0 Siemens. The average
transmissivity values range from 96.45 Ω.m2 in VES 4 to 299070
Ω.m2 in VES 1. All but VES 4 and VES14 had an average
overburden greater than 400 Ω.m2, these results suggest that the
aquifers are highly permeable to fluid movement within, leading to
the possibility of enhanced migration and circulation of contaminants
in the groundwater system and that the area is generally corrosive.
Abstract: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the
most important medical imaging modality. Subjective assessment of
the image quality is regarded as the gold standard to evaluate MR
images. In this study, a database of 210 MR images which contains
ten reference images and 200 distorted images is presented. The
reference images were distorted with four types of distortions: Rician
Noise, Gaussian White Noise, Gaussian Blur and DCT compression.
The 210 images were assessed by ten subjects. The subjective scores
were presented in Difference Mean Opinion Score (DMOS). The
DMOS values were compared with four FR-IQA metrics. We have
used Pearson Linear Coefficient (PLCC) and Spearman Rank Order
Correlation Coefficient (SROCC) to validate the DMOS values. The
high correlation values of PLCC and SROCC shows that the DMOS
values are close to the objective FR-IQA metrics.