Abstract: This paper analyzes the institutionalization of social
protest in Spain. In the current crisis Podemos party seems to
represent the political positions of the most affected citizens by the
economic situation. It studies using quantitative techniques (statistical
bivariate analysis), focusing on the exploitation of several bases of
statistics data from the Center for Sociological and Research of
Spanish Government, 15M movement characterization to its
institutionalization in the Podemos party. Making a comparison
between the participant's profile by the 15M and the social bases of
Podemos votes. Data on the transformation of the socio-demographic
profile of the fans, connoisseurs and 15M participants and voters are
given.
Abstract: This paper applies recursive cointegration analysis to
examine the dynamic changes in Feldstein-Horioka saving-investment
(S-I) coefficients across China and the ASEAN-5 countries over time.
To the extent that the S-I coefficients measure international capital
mobility, the main empirical results are as follows. The recursive trace
statistics show that the investment- savings nexus varies in these six
countries. There is no cointegration between investment and savings in
three countries (China, Malaysia, and Singapore), which means that
the mobility of the capital markets in the three is high and that
domestic investment in them will be financed by the global pool of
capital. As to the other three countries (Indonesia, Thailand, and
Philippines), there is cointegration between investment and savings for
part of the sample period in the three, including before 2002 for
Thailand, before 2001 for Indonesia, and before 2002 for Philippines.
This shows these three countries achieved highly mobile and open
capital markets later.
Abstract: In this paper, it is aimed to improve autonomous flight
performance of a load-carrying (payload: 3 kg and total: 6kg)
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through active wing and horizontal
tail active morphing and also integrated autopilot system parameters
(i.e. P, I, D gains) and UAV parameters (i.e. extension ratios of wing
and horizontal tail during flight) design. For this purpose, a loadcarrying
UAV (i.e. ZANKA-II) is manufactured in Erciyes
University, College of Aviation, Model Aircraft Laboratory is
benefited. Optimum values of UAV parameters and autopilot
parameters are obtained using a stochastic optimization method.
Using this approach autonomous flight performance of UAV is
substantially improved and also in some adverse weather conditions
an opportunity for safe flight is satisfied. Active morphing and
integrated design approach gives confidence, high performance and
easy-utility request of UAV users.
Abstract: We present an approach to triangle mesh simplification
designed to be executed on the GPU. We use a quadric error metric
to calculate an error value for each vertex of the mesh and order all
vertices based on this value. This step is followed by the parallel
removal of a number of vertices with the lowest calculated error
values. To allow for the parallel removal of multiple vertices we use
a set of per-vertex boundaries that prevent mesh foldovers even when
simplification operations are performed on neighbouring vertices. We
execute multiple iterations of the calculation of the vertex errors,
ordering of the error values and removal of vertices until either a
desired number of vertices remains in the mesh or a minimum error
value is reached. This parallel approach is used to speed up the
simplification process while maintaining mesh topology and avoiding
foldovers at every step of the simplification.
Abstract: Pain management is a question of quality of life and
an indicator for nursing quality. Chronic pain which is predominant
in oncology and palliative nursing situations is perceived today as a
multifactorial, individual emotional experience with specific
characteristics including the sociocultural dimension when dealing
with migrant patients. This dimension of chronic pain is of major
importance in professional nursing of migrant patients in hospices or
palliative care units. Objectives of the study are: 1. To find out more
about the sociocultural views on pain and nursing care, on customs
and nursing practices connected with pain of both Turkish Muslim
and German Christian women, 2. To improve individual and family
oriented nursing practice with view to sociocultural needs of patients
in severe pain in palliative care. In a qualitative-explorative comparative study 4 groups of women,
Turkish Muslims immigrants (4 from the first generation, 5 from the
second generation) and German Christian women of two generations
(5 of each age group) of the same age groups as the Turkish women
and with similar educational backgrounds were interviewed (semistructured
ethnographic interviews using Spradley, 1979) on their
perceptions and experiences of pain and nursing care within their
families. For both target groups the presentation will demonstrate the
following results in detail: Utterance of pain as well as “private” and
“public” pain vary within different societies and cultures. Permitted
forms of pain utterance are learned in childhood and determine
attitudes and expectations in adulthood. Language, especially when
metaphors and symbols are used, plays a major role for
misunderstandings. The sociocultural context of illness may include
specific beliefs that are important to the patients and yet seem more
than far-fetched from a biomedical perspective. Pain can be an
influential factor in family relationships where respect or hierarchies
do not allow the direct utterance of individual needs. Specific
resources are often, although not exclusively, linked to religious
convictions and are significantly helpful in reducing pain. The discussion will evaluate the results of the study with view to
the relevant literature and present nursing interventions and
instruments beyond medication that are helpful when dealing with
patients from various socio-cultural backgrounds in painful end-oflife
situations.
Abstract: Landfill leachates contain a number of persistent pollutants, including heavy metals. They have the ability to spread in ecosystems and accumulate in fish which most of them are classified as top-consumers of trophic chains. Fish are freely swimming organisms; but perhaps, due to their species-specific ecological and behavioral properties, they often prefer the most suitable biotopes and therefore, did not avoid harmful substances or environments. That is why it is necessary to evaluate the persistent pollutant dispersion in hydroecosystem using fish tissue metal concentration. In hydroecosystems of hybrid type (e.g. river-pond-river) the distance from the pollution source could be a perfect indicator of such a kind of metal distribution. The studies were carried out in the Kairiai landfill neighboring hybrid-type ecosystem which is located 5 km east of the Šiauliai City. Fish tissue (gills, liver, and muscle) metal concentration measurements were performed on two types of ecologically-different fishes according to their feeding characteristics: benthophagous (Gibel carp, roach) and predatory (Northern pike, perch). A number of mathematical models (linear, non-linear, using log and other transformations) have been applied in order to identify the most satisfactorily description of the interdependence between fish tissue metal concentration and the distance from the pollution source. However, the only one log-multiple regression model revealed the pattern that the distance from the pollution source is closely and positively correlated with metal concentration in all predatory fish tissues studied (gills, liver, and muscle).
Abstract: The increasing availability of information about earth
surface elevation (Digital Elevation Models DEM) generated from
different sources (remote sensing, Aerial Images, Lidar) poses the
question about how to integrate and make available to the most than
possible audience this huge amount of data. In order to exploit the potential of 3D elevation representation the
quality of data management plays a fundamental role. Due to the high
acquisition costs and the huge amount of generated data, highresolution
terrain surveys tend to be small or medium sized and
available on limited portion of earth. Here comes the need to merge
large-scale height maps that typically are made available for free at
worldwide level, with very specific high resolute datasets. One the
other hand, the third dimension increases the user experience and the
data representation quality, unlocking new possibilities in data
analysis for civil protection, real estate, urban planning, environment
monitoring, etc. The open-source 3D virtual globes, which are
trending topics in Geovisual Analytics, aim at improving the
visualization of geographical data provided by standard web services
or with proprietary formats. Typically, 3D Virtual globes like do not
offer an open-source tool that allows the generation of a terrain
elevation data structure starting from heterogeneous-resolution terrain
datasets. This paper describes a technological solution aimed to set
up a so-called “Terrain Builder”. This tool is able to merge
heterogeneous-resolution datasets, and to provide a multi-resolution
worldwide terrain services fully compatible with CesiumJS and
therefore accessible via web using traditional browser without any
additional plug-in.
Abstract: With 40% of total world energy consumption,
building systems are developing into technically complex large
energy consumers suitable for application of sophisticated power
management approaches to largely increase the energy efficiency
and even make them active energy market participants. Centralized
control system of building heating and cooling managed by
economically-optimal model predictive control shows promising
results with estimated 30% of energy efficiency increase. The research
is focused on implementation of such a method on a case study
performed on two floors of our faculty building with corresponding
sensors wireless data acquisition, remote heating/cooling units and
central climate controller. Building walls are mathematically modeled
with corresponding material types, surface shapes and sizes. Models
are then exploited to predict thermal characteristics and changes in
different building zones. Exterior influences such as environmental
conditions and weather forecast, people behavior and comfort
demands are all taken into account for deriving price-optimal climate
control. Finally, a DC microgrid with photovoltaics, wind turbine,
supercapacitor, batteries and fuel cell stacks is added to make the
building a unit capable of active participation in a price-varying
energy market. Computational burden of applying model predictive
control on such a complex system is relaxed through a hierarchical
decomposition of the microgrid and climate control, where the
former is designed as higher hierarchical level with pre-calculated
price-optimal power flows control, and latter is designed as lower
level control responsible to ensure thermal comfort and exploit
the optimal supply conditions enabled by microgrid energy flows
management. Such an approach is expected to enable the inclusion
of more complex building subsystems into consideration in order to
further increase the energy efficiency.
Abstract: In this research, students’ scientific attitude, computer anxiety, educational use of the Internet, academic achievement, and problematic use of the Internet are analyzed based on different variables (gender, parents’ educational level and daily access to the Internet). The research group involves 361 students from two middle schools which are located in the center of Konya. The “general survey method” is adopted in the research. In accordance with the purpose of the study, percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent samples t--‐test, ANOVA (variance) are employed in the study. A total of four scales are implemented. These four scales include a total of 13 sub-dimensions. The scores from these scales and their subscales are studied in terms of various variables. In the research, students’ scientific attitude, computer anxiety, educational use of the Internet, the problematic Internet use and academic achievement (gender, parent educational level, and daily access to the Internet) are investigated based on various variables and some significant relations are found.
Abstract: This paper looks at healing performances as
ethnographic expressions of local knowledge and culture embedded
within the Malay psyche and gemeinschaft. As society develops and
progresses, these healing performances are caught within conflicting
trajectories which become compounded by the contestations of
tradition, religious concerns, locality and modernity. As
exemplifications of the Malay ethos, these performances practice
common rituals, cater to the innate needs of the practitioners and
serve the targeted, closed, local community. This paper traces the
ethnographic methods in documenting these practices as rituals of
healing in a post-modern world. It delineates the ethnographic
concepts used to analyze these rituals, and to semiotically read the
varied binarial oppositions and juxtapositions. The paper concludes
by highlighting the reconciliatory processes involved in maintaining
these ritual performances as exemplifications of the Malay ethos
playing an important role in the re-aligning, re-balancing and healing
of the Malay community’s psyche.
Abstract: In this current contribution, authors are dedicated to
investigate influence of the crystal lamellae orientation on
electromechanical behaviors of relaxor ferroelectric Poly
(vinylidene fluoride –trifluoroethylene -chlorotrifluoroethylene)
(P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)) films by control of polymer microstructure,
aiming to picture the full map of structure-property relationship. In
order to define their crystal orientation films, terpolymer films were
fabricated by solution-casting, stretching and hot-pressing process.
Differential scanning calorimetry, impedance analyzer, and tensile
strength techniques were employed to characterize crystallographic
parameters, dielectric permittivity, and elastic Young’s modulus
respectively. In addition, large electrical induced out-of-plane
electrostrictive strain was obtained by cantilever beam mode.
Consequently, as-casted pristine films exhibited surprisingly high
electrostrictive strain 0.1774% due to considerably small value of
elastic Young’s modulus although relatively low dielectric
permittivity. Such reasons contributed to large mechanical elastic
energy density. Instead, due to 2 folds increase of elastic Young’s
modulus and less than 50% augmentation of dielectric constant, fullycrystallized
film showed weak electrostrictive behavior and
mechanical energy density as well. And subjected to mechanical
stretching process, Film C exhibited stronger dielectric constant and
out-performed electrostrictive strain over Film B because edge-on
crystal lamellae orientation induced by uniaxially mechanical stretch.
Hot-press films were compared in term of cooling rate. Rather large
electrostrictive strain of 0.2788% for hot-pressed Film D in
quenching process was observed although its dielectric permittivity
equivalent to that of pristine as-casted Film A, showing highest
mechanical elastic energy density value of 359.5 J/m3. In hot-press
cooling process, dielectric permittivity of Film E saw values at 48.8
concomitant with ca.100% increase of Young’s modulus. Films with
intermediate mechanical energy density were obtained.
Abstract: Geological structure formed by volcanic activities shows polymorphic characteristics due to repeated cooling and hardening of lava. The Jeju region is showing polymorphic characteristics in which clinker layers are irregularly distributed along with vesicular basalt due to volcanic activities. Accordingly, resident damages and environmental disputes occur frequently in the Jeju region due to blasting. The purpose of this study is to develop a blast vibration equation considering the polymorphic characteristics of basaltic ground in Jeju. The blast vibration equation consists of a functional formula of the blasting vibration constant K that changes according to ground characteristics, and attenuation index n. The case study results in Jeju showed that if there are clinker layers, attenuation index n showed a distribution of -1.32~-1.81, whereas if there are no clinker layers, n was -2.79. Moreover, if there are no clinker layers, the frequency of blast vibration showed a high frequency band from 30Hz to 100Hz, while in rocks with clinker layers it showed a low frequency band from 10Hz to 20Hz.
Abstract: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease which affects the
central nervous system and causes balance problem. In clinical, this
disorder is usually evaluated using static posturography. Some linear
or nonlinear measures, extracted from the posturographic data (i.e.
center of pressure, COP) recorded during a balance test, has been
used to analyze postural control of MS patients. In this study, the
trend (TREND) and the sample entropy (SampEn), two nonlinear
parameters were chosen to investigate their relationships with the
expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score. 40 volunteers with
different EDSS scores participated in our experiments with eyes open
(EO) and closed (EC). TREND and 2 types of SampEn (SampEn1
and SampEn2) were calculated for each combined COP’s position
signal. The results have shown that TREND had a weak negative
correlation to EDSS while SampEn2 had a strong positive correlation
to EDSS. Compared to TREND and SampEn1, SampEn2 showed a
better significant correlation to EDSS and an ability to discriminate
the MS patients in the EC case. In addition, the outcome of the study
suggests that the multi-dimensional nonlinear analysis could provide
some information about the impact of disability progression in MS on
dynamics of the COP data.
Abstract: Advances in spatial and spectral resolution of satellite
images have led to tremendous growth in large image databases. The
data we acquire through satellites, radars, and sensors consists of
important geographical information that can be used for remote
sensing applications such as region planning, disaster management.
Spatial data classification and object recognition are important tasks
for many applications. However, classifying objects and identifying
them manually from images is a difficult task. Object recognition is
often considered as a classification problem, this task can be
performed using machine-learning techniques. Despite of many
machine-learning algorithms, the classification is done using
supervised classifiers such as Support Vector Machines (SVM) as the
area of interest is known. We proposed a classification method,
which considers neighboring pixels in a region for feature extraction
and it evaluates classifications precisely according to neighboring
classes for semantic interpretation of region of interest (ROI). A
dataset has been created for training and testing purpose; we
generated the attributes by considering pixel intensity values and
mean values of reflectance. We demonstrated the benefits of using
knowledge discovery and data-mining techniques, which can be on
image data for accurate information extraction and classification from
high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery.
Abstract: Test automation allows performing difficult and time
consuming manual software testing tasks efficiently, quickly and
repeatedly. However, development and maintenance of automated
tests is expensive, so it needs a proper prioritization what to automate
first. This paper describes a simple yet efficient approach for such
prioritization of test cases based on the effort needed for both manual
execution and software test automation. The suggested approach is
very flexible because it allows working with a variety of assessment
methods, and adding or removing new candidates at any time. The
theoretical ideas presented in this article have been successfully
applied in real world situations in several software companies by the
authors and their colleagues including testing of real estate websites,
cryptographic and authentication solutions, OSGi-based middleware
framework that has been applied in various systems for smart homes,
connected cars, production plants, sensors, home appliances, car head
units and engine control units (ECU), vending machines, medical
devices, industry equipment and other devices that either contain or
are connected to an embedded service gateway.
Abstract: Currently, there are few user friendly Weigh-in-
Motion (WIM) data analysis softwares available which can produce
traffic input data for the recently developed AASHTOWare pavement
Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) design software. However, these
softwares have only rudimentary Quality Control (QC) processes.
Therefore, they cannot properly deal with erroneous WIM data. As
the pavement performance is highly sensible to the quality of WIM
data, it is highly recommended to use more refined QC process on
raw WIM data to get a good result. This study develops a userfriendly
software, which can produce traffic input for the ME design
software. This software takes the raw data (Class and Weight data)
collected from the WIM station and processes it with a sophisticated
QC procedure. Traffic data such as traffic volume, traffic distribution,
axle load spectra, etc. can be obtained from this software; which can
directly be used in the ME design software.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is analyzing the relationship
between trust and social capital of people with using Social Network
Analysis. In this study, two aspects of social capital will be focused:
Bonding, homophilous social capital (BoSC), and Bridging,
heterophilous social capital (BrSC). These two aspects diverge each
other regarding to the social theories. The other concept of the study
is Trust (Tr), namely interpersonal trust, willing to ascribe good
intentions to and have confidence in the words and actions of other
people. In this study, the sample group, 61 people, was selected from
a private firm from the defense industry. The relation between
BoSC/BrSC and Tr is shown by using Social Network Analysis
(SNA) and statistical analysis with Likert type-questionnaire. The
results of the analysis show the Cronbach’s alpha value is 0.756 and
social capital values (BoSC/BrSC) is not correlated with Tr values of
the people.
Abstract: The social logic of 'Sequina' slum area in Alexandria details the integral measure of space syntax at the room-level of twenty-building samples. The essence of spatial structure integrates the central 'visitor' domain with the 'living' frontage of the 'children' zone against the segregated privacy of the opposite 'parent' depth. Meanwhile, the multifunctioning of shallow rooms optimizes the integral 'visitor' structure through graph and visibility dimensions in contrast to the 'inhabitant' structure of graph-tails out of sight. Common theme of the layout integrity increases in compensation to the decrease of room visibility. Despite the 'pheno-type' of collective integration, the individual layouts observe 'geno-type' structure of spatial diversity per room adjoins. In this regard, the layout integrity alternates the cross-correlation of the 'kitchen & living' rooms with the 'inhabitant & visitor' domains of 'motherhood' dynamic structure. Moreover, the added 'grandparent' restructures the integral measure to become the deepest space, but opens to the 'living' of 'household' integrity. Some isomorphic layouts change the integral structure just through the 'balcony' extension of access, visual or ignored 'ringiness' of space syntax. However, the most integrated or segregated layouts invert the 'geno-type' into a shallow 'inhabitant' centrality versus the remote 'visitor' structure. Overview of the multivariate social logic of spatial integrity could never clarify without the micro-data analysis.
Abstract: Polymeric composites are being increasingly used as
repair material for repairing critical infrastructures such as building,
bridge, pressure vessel, piping and pipeline. Technique in repairing
damaged pipes is one of the major concerns of pipeline owners.
Considerable researches have been carried out on the repair of
corroded pipes using composite materials. This article attempts a
short review of the subject matter to provide insight into various
techniques used in repairing corroded pipes, focusing on a wide range
of composite repair systems. These systems including pre-cured
layered, flexible wet lay-up, pre-impregnated, split composite sleeve
and flexible tape systems. Both advantages and limitations of these
repair systems were highlighted. Critical technical aspects have been
discussed through the current standards and practices. Research gaps
and future study scopes in achieving more effective design
philosophy are also presented.
Abstract: Issues relating to the destructive phenomena that can
damage people and goods have returned to the centre of debate in
Italy with the increase in catastrophic episodes in recent years in a
country which is highly vulnerable to hydrological risk.
Environmental factors and geological and geomorphological
territorial characteristics play an important role in determining the
level of vulnerability and the natural tendency to risk. However, a
territory has also been subjected to the requirements of and
transformations of society and this brings other relevant factors. The
reasons for the increase in destructive phenomena are often to be
found in the territorial development models adopted. Stewardship of
the landscape and management of risk are related issues. This study aims to summarize the most relevant elements about
this connection and at the same time to clarify the role of
environmental risk assessment as a tool to aid in the sustainable
management of landscape. Finally, the study reflects on how regional
and urban planners deal with environmental risk and which aspects
should be monitored in order to adopt responsible and useful
interventions.