Abstract: To mitigate the urban heat island effect has become a
global issue when we are faced with the challenge of climate change.
Through literature review, plant photosynthesis can reduce the carbon
dioxide and mitigate the urban heat island effect to a degree. Because
there are not enough open space and parks, green roof has become an
important policy in Taiwan.
We selected elementary school buildings in northern New Taipei
City as research subjects since elementary schools are asked with
priority to build green roof and important educational place to promote
green roof concept. Testo175-H1 recording device was used to record
the temperature and humidity differences between roof surface and
interior space below roof with and without green roof in the long-term.
We also use questionnaires to investigate the awareness of comfort
level of green roof and sensation of teachers and students of the
elementary schools.
The results indicated that the temperature of roof without greening
was higher than that with greening by about 2°C. But sometimes
during noontime, the temperature of green roof was higher than that of
non-green roof probably because of the character of the accumulation
and dissipation of heat of greening. The temperature of the interior
space below green roof was normally lower than that without green
roof by about 1°C, showing that green roof could lower the
temperature. The humidity of the green roof was higher than the one
without greening also indicated that green roof retained water better.
Teachers liked to combine green roof concept in the curriculum,
and students wished all classes can take turns to maintain the green
roof. Teachers and students whose school had integrated green roof
concept in the curriculum were more willing to participate in the
maintenance work of green roof. Teachers and students who may have
access to and touch the green roof can be more aware of the green roof
benefit. We suggest architects to increase the accessibility and
visibility of green roof, such as use it as a part of the activity space.
This idea can be a reference to the green roof curriculum design.
Abstract: Paranoid ideation is a common thought process that
constitutes a defense against perceived social threats. The current
study aimed at the characterization of paranoid ideation in youths and
to explore the possible predictors involved in the development of
paranoid ideations. Paranoid ideation, shame, submission, early
childhood memories and current depressive, anxious and stress
symptomatology were assessed in a sample of 1516 Portuguese
youths. Higher frequencies of paranoid ideation were observed,
particularly in females and youths from lower socioeconomic status.
The main predictors identified relates to submissive behaviors and
adverse childhood experiences, and especially to shame feelings. The
current study emphasizes that the these predictors are similar to
findings in adults and clinical populations, and future implications to
research and clinical practice aiming at paranoid ideations are
discussed, as well as the pertinence of the study of mediating factors
that allow a wider understanding of this thought process in younger
populations and the prevention of psychopathology in adulthood.
Abstract: The concept of economic policy and the practical
economic policy diverge from each other at a certain stage of
development. This is related to the concept of realization of the
underlying problems. It comes with all the problems emerged in the
market oriented economic order due to the political processes based
on social welfare policy. The realization of the concept of economic
policy is impeded by economic and political obstacles. If you want to
fill the appeared between the concept and reality, it is necessary to
identify and avoid these obstacles. It requires the following: increase
of the level of the knowledge of prevention technology in
understanding of economic relations, as well as political aspects of
the formation of ideas; perfection of economic policy toolkit, and
political methods.
It is necessary to realize what is the main precondition of
implementation and further development of the concept of economic
policy, as well as the formation of opinions about economic and
public safety. This is a broad consensus on the basic values of the
content and the scale of action, which the general public wants to be
realized.
Abstract: This paper deals with the study of reflection and
transmission characteristics of acoustic waves at the interface of a
semiconductor half-space and elastic solid. The amplitude ratios
(reflection and transmission coefficients) of reflected and transmitted
waves to that of incident wave varying with the incident angles have
been examined for the case of quasi-longitudinal wave. The special
cases of normal and grazing incidence have also been derived with
the help of Gauss elimination method. The mathematical model
consisting of governing partial differential equations of motion and
charge carriers’ diffusion of n-type semiconductors and elastic solid
has been solved both analytically and numerically in the study. The
numerical computations of reflection and transmission coefficients
has been carried out by using MATLAB programming software for
silicon (Si) semiconductor and copper elastic solid. The computer
simulated results have been plotted graphically for Si
semiconductors. The study may be useful in semiconductors,
geology, and seismology in addition to surface acoustic wave (SAW)
devices.
Abstract: We present a refined multiscale Shannon entropy for
analyzing electroencephalogram (EEG), which reflects the underlying
dynamics of EEG over multiple scales. The rationale behind
this method is that neurological signals such as EEG possess
distinct dynamics over different spectral modes. To deal with the
nonlinear and nonstationary nature of EEG, the recently developed
empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is incorporated, allowing a
decomposition of EEG into its inherent spectral components, referred
to as intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). By calculating the Shannon
entropy of IMFs in a time-dependent manner and summing them over
adaptive multiple scales, it results in an adaptive subscale entropy
measure of EEG. Simulation and experimental results show that
the proposed entropy properly reveals the dynamical changes over
multiple scales.
Abstract: In statistics parameter theory, usually the
parameter estimations have two kinds, one is the least-square
estimation (LSE), and the other is the best linear unbiased
estimation (BLUE). Due to the determining theorem of
minimum variance unbiased estimator (MVUE), the parameter
estimation of BLUE in linear model is most ideal. But since
the calculations are complicated or the covariance is not
given, people are hardly to get the solution. Therefore, people
prefer to use LSE rather than BLUE. And this substitution
will take some losses. To quantize the losses, many scholars
have presented many kinds of different relative efficiencies in
different views. For the linear weighted regression model, this
paper discusses the relative efficiencies of LSE of β to BLUE
of β. It also defines two new relative efficiencies and gives
their lower bounds.
Abstract: In educational technology, the idea of innovation is
usually tethered to contemporary technological inventions and
emerging technologies. Yet, using long-known technologies in ways
that are pedagogically or experimentially new can reposition them as
emerging educational technologies. In this study we explore how a
subtle pivot in pedagogical thinking led to an innovative education
technology. We describe the design and implementation of an online
writing tool that scaffolds students in the evaluation of their own
informational texts. We think about how pathways to innovation can
emerge from pivots, namely a leveraging of longstanding practices in
novel ways has the potential to cultivate new opportunities for
learning. We first unpack Infowriter in terms of its design, then we
describe some results of a study in which we implemented an
intervention which included our designed application.
Abstract: The article proposed intends to analyze the possibility
(and conditions) of a media regulation law in a democratic rule of law
in the twenty-first century. To do so, will be presented initially the
idea of the public sphere (by Jürgen Habermas), showing how it is
presented as an interface between the citizen and the state (or the
private and public) and how important is it in a deliberative
democracy. Based on this paradigm, the traditional perception of the
role of public information (such as system functional element) and on
the possibility of media regulation will be exposed, due to the public
nature of their activity. A critical argument will then be displayed
from two different perspectives: a) the formal function of the current
media information, considering that the digital age has fragmented
the information access; b) the concept of a constructive democracy,
which reduces the need for representation, changing the strategic
importance of the public sphere. The question to be addressed (based
on the comparative law) is if the regulation is justified in a
polycentric democracy, especially when it operates under the digital
age (with immediate and virtual communication). The proposal is to
be presented in the sense that even in a twenty-first century the media
in a democratic rule of law still has an extremely important role and
may be subject to regulation, but this should be on terms very
different (and narrower) from those usually defended.
Abstract: An important problem for the CaSO4/CaSO4･1/2H2O
Chemical heat pump (CHP) is that the material is deactivated through
repetitive reaction between hydration and dehydration in which the
crystal phase of the material is transformed from III-CaSO4 to
II-CaSO4. We investigated suppression on the phase change by adding
a sulfated compound. The most effective material was MgSO4. MgSO4
doping increased the durability of CaSO4 in the actual CHP repetitive
cycle of hydration/dehydration to 3.6 times that of undoped CaSO4.
The MgSO4-doped CaSO4 showed a higher phase transition
temperature and activation energy for crystal transformation from
III-CaSO4 to II-CaSO4. MgSO4 doping decreased the crystal lattice
size of CaSO4･1/2H2O and II-CaSO4 to smaller than that of undoped
CaSO4. Modification of the crystal structure is considered to be related
to the durability change in CaSO4 resulting from MgSO4 doping.
Abstract: This paper investigates simple implicit force control
algorithms realizable with industrial robots. A lot of approaches
already published are difficult to implement in commercial robot
controllers, because the access to the robot joint torques is necessary
or the complete dynamic model of the manipulator is used. In
the past we already deal with explicit force control of a position
controlled robot. Well known schemes of implicit force control are
stiffness control, damping control and impedance control. Using such
algorithms the contact force cannot be set directly. It is further
the result of controller impedance, environment impedance and
the commanded robot motion/position. The relationships of these
properties are worked out in this paper in detail for the chosen
implicit approaches. They have been adapted to be implementable
on a position controlled robot. The behaviors of stiffness control
and damping control are verified by practical experiments. For this
purpose a suitable test bed was configured. Using the full mechanical
impedance within the controller structure will not be practical in the
case when the robot is in physical contact with the environment. This
fact will be verified by simulation.
Abstract: The paper deals with the classical fiber bundle model
of equal load sharing, sometimes referred to as the Daniels’ bundle
or the democratic bundle. Daniels formulated a multidimensional
integral and also a recursive formula for evaluation of the
strength cumulative distribution function. This paper describes
three algorithms for evaluation of the recursive formula and also
their implementations with source codes in the Python high-level
programming language. A comparison of the algorithms are provided
with respect to execution time. Analysis of orders of magnitudes of
addends in the recursion is also provided.
Abstract: The area of liberty, security and justice within the
European Union is still a work in progress. No one can deny that the
EU struggles between a monistic and a dualist approach.
The aim of our essay is to first review how the European law is
perceived by the rest of the international scene. It will then discuss
two main mechanisms at play: the interpretation of larger
international treaties and the penal mechanisms of European law.
Finally, it will help us understand the role of a penal Europe on the
international scene with concrete examples.
Special attention will be paid to cases that deal with fundamental
rights as they represent an interesting case study in Europe and in the
rest of the World. It could illustrate the aforementioned duality
currently present in the Union’s interpretation of international public
law. On the other hand, it will explore some specific European penal
mechanism through mutual recognition and the European arrest
warrant in the transnational criminality frame.
Concerning the interpretation of the treaties, it will first, underline
the ambiguity and the general nature of some treaties that leave the
EU exposed to tension and misunderstanding then it will review the
validity of an EU act (whether or not it is compatible with the rules of
International law).
Finally, it will focus on the most complete manifestation of liberty,
security and justice through the principle of mutual recognition. Used
initially in commercial matters, it has become “the cornerstone” of
European construction. It will see how it is applied in judicial
decisions (its main event and achieving success is via the European
arrest warrant) and how European member states have managed to
develop this cooperation.
Abstract: This paper introduces symbiotic organism search (SOS)
for solving capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). SOS is a new
approach in metaheuristics fields and never been used to solve discrete
problems. A sophisticated decoding method to deal with a discrete
problem setting in CVRP is applied using the basic symbiotic
organism search (SOS) framework. The performance of the algorithm
was evaluated on a set of benchmark instances and compared results
with best known solution. The computational results show that the
proposed algorithm can produce good solution as a preliminary
testing. These results indicated that the proposed SOS can be applied
as an alternative to solve the capacitated vehicle routing problem.
Abstract: To understand the friction stir welding process, it is
very important to know the nature of the material flow in and around
the tool. The process is a combination of both thermal as well as
mechanical work i.e. it is a coupled thermo-mechanical process.
Numerical simulations are very much essential in order to obtain a
complete knowledge of the process as well as the physics underlying
it. In the present work a model based approach is adopted in order to
study material flow. A thermo-mechanical based CFD model is
developed using a Finite Element package, Comsol Multiphysics.
The fluid flow analysis is done. The model simultaneously predicts
shear strain fields, shear strain rates and shear stress over the entire
workpiece for the given conditions. The flow fields generated by the
streamline plot give an idea of the material flow. The variation of
dynamic viscosity, velocity field and shear strain fields with various
welding parameters is studied. Finally the result obtained from the
above mentioned conditions is discussed elaborately and concluded.
Abstract: Waste load allocation (WLA) policies may use multiobjective
optimization methods to find the most appropriate and
sustainable solutions. These usually intend to simultaneously
minimize two criteria, total abatement costs (TC) and environmental
violations (EV). If other criteria, such as inequity, need for
minimization as well, it requires introducing more binary
optimizations through different scenarios. In order to reduce the
calculation steps, this study presents value index as an innovative
decision making approach. Since the value index contains both the
environmental violation and treatment costs, it can be maximized
simultaneously with the equity index. It implies that the definition of
different scenarios for environmental violations is no longer required.
Furthermore, the solution is not necessarily the point with minimized
total costs or environmental violations. This idea is testified for Haraz
River, in north of Iran. Here, the dissolved oxygen (DO) level of river
is simulated by Streeter-Phelps equation in MATLAB software. The
WLA is determined for fish farms using multi-objective particle
swarm optimization (MOPSO) in two scenarios. At first, the trade-off
curves of TC-EV and TC-Inequity are plotted separately as the
conventional approach. In the second, the Value-Equity curve is
derived. The comparative results show that the solutions are in a
similar range of inequity with lower total costs. This is due to the
freedom of environmental violation attained in value index. As a
result, the conventional approach can well be replaced by the value
index particularly for problems optimizing these objectives. This
reduces the process to achieve the best solutions and may find better
classification for scenario definition. It is also concluded that decision
makers are better to focus on value index and weighting its contents
to find the most sustainable alternatives based on their requirements.
Abstract: The secondary alloy A226 is used for many
automotive casting produced by mould casting and high pressure die
casting. This alloy has excellent castability, good mechanical
properties and cost-effectiveness. Production of primary aluminium
alloys belong to heavy source fouling of life environs. The European
Union calls for the emission reduction and reduction in energy
consumption therefore increase production of recycled (secondary)
aluminium cast alloys. The contribution is deal with influence of
recycling on the quality of the casting made from A226 in automotive
industry. The properties of the casting made from secondary
aluminium alloys were compared with the required properties of
primary aluminium alloys. The effect of recycling on microstructure
was observed using combination different analytical techniques (light
microscopy upon black-white etching, scanning electron microscopy
- SEM upon deep etching and energy dispersive X-ray analysis -
EDX). These techniques were used for the identification of the
various structure parameters, which was used to compare secondary
alloy microstructure with primary alloy microstructure.
Abstract: This work studied the isomerization of 1-butene over
hydrotalcite catalyst. The experiments were conducted at various gas
hourly space velocity (GHSV), reaction temperature and feed
concentration. No catalyst deactivation was observed over the
reaction time of 16 hours. Two major reaction products were trans-2-
butene and cis-2-butene. The reaction temperature played an
important role on the reaction selectivity. At high operating
temperatures, the selectivity of trans-2-butene was higher than the
selectivity of cis-2-butene while it was opposite at lower reaction
temperature. In the range of operating condition, the maximum
conversion of 1-butene was found at 74% when T = 673 K and GHSV
= 4 m3/h/kg-cat with trans- and cis-2-butene selectivities of 54% and
46%, respectively. Finally, the kinetic parameters of the reaction
were determined.
Abstract: Networking is important among students to achieve
better understanding. Social networking plays an important role in the
education. Realizing its huge potential, various organizations,
including institutions of higher learning have moved to the area of
social networks to interact with their students especially through
Facebook. Therefore, measuring the effectiveness of Facebook as a
learning tool has become an area of interest to academicians and
researchers. Therefore, this study tried to integrate and propose new
theoretical and empirical evidences by linking the western idea of
adopting Facebook as an alternative learning platform from a
Malaysian perspective. This study, thus, aimed to fill a gap by being
among the pioneering research that tries to study the effectiveness of
adopting Facebook as a learning platform across other cultural
settings, namely Malaysia. Structural equation modeling was
employed for data analysis and hypothesis testing. This study finding
has provided some insights that would likely affect students’
awareness towards using Facebook as an alternative learning
platform in the Malaysian higher learning institutions. At the end,
future direction is proposed.
Abstract: This paper deals with various questions related to
functionality and providing banking services in the European union
on the Internet. Due to the fact that we live in the information
technologies era, the Internet become a new space for doing
economic and business activities in all areas, and especially important
in banking. Accepting the busy tempo of life, in the past several years
electronic banking has become necessity and a must for most users of
banking services. On a sample of 300 web sites of the banks
operating in European Union (EU) we conduct the research on the
functionality of e-banking services offered through banks web sites
with the key objective to reveal to what extent the information
technologies are used in their business operations. Characteristics of
EU banks websites will be examined and compared to the basic
groups of business activities on the web. Also some
recommendations for the successful bank web sites will be provided.
Abstract: This paper adopts a two-stage data envelopment
analysis to explore the impacts of financial development and bank
operating scale on bank efficiencies. The sample comprises
unbalanced panel data of 32 Taiwanese listed domestic commercial
banks over the period 1998 to 2013. Empirical results show that pure
technical efficiency is positively related to financial development,
whereas the effect of financial development on scale efficiency is
insignificant. Enlargement of bank operating scale improves bank
efficiencies, but the efficiency gains are decreased gradually when the
scale increases. Increases in capital adequacy ratio and market power
of loans lead into a growth of bank efficiencies.