Abstract: Megalopolis is a group of densely populated metropolitan areas that combine to form an urban complex. Since China introduced the economic reforms in late 1970s, the Chinese urban system has experienced unprecedented growth. The process of urbanisation prevailed in the 1980s, and the process of predominantly large city growth appeared to continue through 1990s and 2000s. In this study, the magnitude and pattern of urbanisation in China during 1990s were examined using remotely sensed imagery acquired by TM/ETM+ sensor onboard the Landsat satellites. The development of megalopolis areas in China was also studied based on the GIS analysis of the increases of urban and built-up area from 1990 to 2000. The analysis suggests that in the traditional agricultural zones in China, e.g., Huang-Huai-Hai Plains, Changjiang River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Sichuan Basin, the urban and built-up areas increased by 1.76 million hectares, of which 0.82 million hectares are expansion of urban areas, an increase of 24.78% compared with 1990 at the national scale. The Yellow River Delta, Changjiang River Delta and Pearl River Delta also saw an increase of urban and built-up area by 63.9%, 66.2% and 83.0% respectively. As a result, three major megalopolises were developed in China: the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong- Macau (Pearl River Delta: PRD) megalopolis area, the Shanghai- Nanjing-Hangzhou (Changjiang River Delta: CRD) megalopolis area and the Beijing-Tianjing-Tangshan-Qinhuangdao (Yellow River Delta-Bohai Sea Ring: YRD) megalopolis area. The relationship between the processed of megalopolisation and the inter-provincial population flow was also explored in the context of social-economic and transport infrastructure development in Post-reform China.
Abstract: Gabor-based face representation has achieved enormous success in face recognition. This paper addresses a novel algorithm for face recognition using neural networks trained by Gabor features. The system is commenced on convolving a face image with a series of Gabor filter coefficients at different scales and orientations. Two novel contributions of this paper are: scaling of rms contrast and introduction of fuzzily skewed filter. The neural network employed for face recognition is based on the multilayer perceptron (MLP) architecture with backpropagation algorithm and incorporates the convolution filter response of Gabor jet. The effectiveness of the algorithm has been justified over a face database with images captured at different illumination conditions.
Abstract: Stairway Ushtobin Village is one of the five villages with original and sustainable architecture in Northwest of Iran along the border of Armenia, which has been able to maintain its environment and sustainable ecosystem. Studying circulation, function and scale (grand, medium and minor) of space, ratio of full and empty spaces, number and height of stairs, ratio of compound volume to luxury spaces, openings, type of local masonry (stone, mud, wood) and form of covering elements have been carried out in four houses of this village comparatively as some samples in this article, and furthermore, this article analyzes that the architectural shapes and organic texture of the village meet the needs of cold and dry climate. Finally, some efficient plans are offered suiting the present needs of the village to have a sustainable architecture.
Abstract: The trend in the world of Information Technology
(IT) is getting increasingly large and difficult projects rather than
smaller and easier. However, the data on large-scale IT project
success rates provide cause for concern. This paper seeks to answer
why large-scale IT projects are different from and more difficult than
other typical engineering projects. Drawing on the industrial
experience, a compilation of the conditions that influence failure is
presented. With a view to improve success rates solutions are
suggested.
Abstract: This article addresses the procedures to validate the Arabic version of Multiple Intelligence Development Assessment Scale (MIDAS). The content validity was examined based on the experts- judgments on the MIDAS-s items in the Arabic version. The content of eleven items in the Arabic version of MIDAS was modified to match the Arabic context. Then a translation from original English version of MIDAS into Arabic language was performed. The reliability of the Arabic MIDAS was calculated based on test and retest method and found to be 0.85 for the overall MIDAS and for the different subscales ranging between 0.78 - 0.87. The examination of construct validity for the overall Arabic MIDAS and its subscales was established by using Winsteps program version 6 based on Rasch model in order to fit the items into the Arabic context. The findings indicated that, the eight subscales in Arabic version of MIDAS scale have a unidimensionality, and the total number of kept items in the overall scale is 108 items.
Abstract: Aggression is a multi- factorial concept and multilevel
in nature. The Young Adolescent is being influenced by family,
school and community. This paper is aimed to determine the
following: aggression level among young adolescents, difference of
level of aggression on school and year levels and to determine the
correlates of aggression. There were 142 high school students from
two different national highs schools (Region 3 and National Capital
Region).Convenience sampling was use in this study. The following
measures were used namely: Aggression Scale, Parental Support
Fighting Scale, Positive Behavior Scale and Exposure to Violence
and Trauma questionnaire. There was no significant difference in
aggression level among different year level and schools. The
findings of the study suggested that high level of community violence
and having low parental support for non-aggressive behavior
contribute to the prediction of aggression.
Abstract: A new automatic system for the recognition and re¬construction of resealed and/or rotated partially occluded objects is presented. The objects to be recognized are described by 2D views and each view is occluded by several half-planes. The whole object views and their visible parts (linear cuts) are then stored in a database. To establish if a region R of an input image represents an object possibly occluded, the system generates a set of linear cuts of R and compare them with the elements in the database. Each linear cut of R is associated to the most similar database linear cut. R is recognized as an instance of the object 0 if the majority of the linear cuts of R are associated to a linear cut of views of 0. In the case of recognition, the system reconstructs the occluded part of R and determines the scale factor and the orientation in the image plane of the recognized object view. The system has been tested on two different datasets of objects, showing good performance both in terms of recognition and reconstruction accuracy.
Abstract: The learning society has currently transformed from 'wired society' to become 'mobile society' which is facilitated by wireless network. To suit to this new paradigm, m-learning was given birth and rapidly building its prospect to be included in the future curriculum. Research and studies on m-learning spruced up in numerous aspects but there is still scarcity in studies on curriculum design of m-learning. This study is a part of an ongoing bigger study probing into the m-learning curriculum for secondary schools. The paper reports on the first phase of the study which aims to probe into the needs of curriculum design for m-learning at the secondary school level and the researcher adopted the needs analysis method. Data accrued from responses on survey questionnaires based on Lickert-point scale were analyzed statistically. The findings from this preliminary study serve as a basis for m-learning curriculum development for secondary schools.
Abstract: This study analyzes characteristics determining
member’s willingness to invest in cooperatives using ordered logit
model. The data were collected in a field survey among 122
cooperative members in north-central China. The descriptive analysis
of survey evidence suggests that cooperatives in China generally
having poor ability to deliver the processing services related to
product package, grading, and storage, performing worse in
profitability, inability of providing returns to capital and obtaining
agricultural loan. The regression results demonstrate that members’
farm size, their satisfaction with cooperative price preferential
services, attitudes toward cooperative operational scale and
development potential have statistically significant impact on
willingness to invest.
Abstract: Dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME)
over a commercial Al2O3 catalyst was studied in an isothermal integral
fixed bed reactor. The experiments were performed on the temperature
interval 513-613 K, liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) of 0.9-2.1h-1,
pressures between 0.1 and 1.0 MPa. The effect of different operation
conditions on the dehydration of methanol was investigated in a
laboratory scale experiment. A new intrinsic kinetics equation based
on the mechanism of Langmuir-Hinshelwood dissociation adsorption
was developed for the dehydration reaction by fitting the expressions
to the experimental data. An activation energy of 67.21 kJ/mol was
obtained for the catalyst with the best performance. Statistic test
showed that this new intrinsic kinetics equation was acceptable.
Abstract: Operational safety of critical systems, such as nuclear power plants, industrial chemical processes and means of transportation, is a major concern for system engineers and operators. A means to assure that is on-line safety monitors that deliver three safety tasks; fault detection and diagnosis, alarm annunciation and fault controlling. While current monitors deliver these tasks, benefits and limitations in their approaches have at the same time been highlighted. Drawing from those benefits, this paper develops a distributed monitor based on semi-independent agents, i.e. a multiagent system, and monitoring knowledge derived from a safety assessment model of the monitored system. Agents are deployed hierarchically and provided with knowledge portions and collaboration protocols to reason and integrate over the operational conditions of the components of the monitored system. The monitor aims to address limitations arising from the large-scale, complicated behaviour and distributed nature of monitored systems and deliver the aforementioned three monitoring tasks effectively.
Abstract: The majority of micro-entrepreneurs in Malaysia
operate very small-scaled business activities such as food stalls,
burger stalls, night market hawkers, grocery stores, constructions,
rubber and oil palm small holders, and other agro-based services and
activities. Why are they venturing into entrepreneurship - is it for
survival, out of interest or due to encouragement and assistance from
the local government? And why is it that some micro-entrepreneurs
are lagging behind in entrepreneurship, and what do they need to
rectify this situation so that they are able to progress further?
Furthermore, what are the skills that the micro entrepreneurs should
developed to transform them into successful micro-enterprises and
become small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)? This paper
proposes a 7-Step approach that can serve as a basis for identification
of critical entrepreneurial success factors that enable policy makers,
practitioners, consultants, training managers and other agencies in
developing tools to assist micro business owners. This paper also
highlights the experience of one of the successful companies in
Malaysia that has transformed from micro-enterprise to become a
large organization in less than 10 years.
Abstract: The Taiwan Health Literacy Scale (THLS) was developed to cope with the need of measuring heath literacy of Chinese-speaking adults in Taiwan. Although the scale was proven having good reliability and validity, it was not popularly adopted by the practitioners due to the length, and the time required completing. Based on the THLS, this research further invited healthcare professionals to review the original scale for a possible shorten work. Under the logic of THLS, the research adopted an analytic hierarchy process technique to consolidate the healthcare experts- assessments to shorten the original scale. There are fifteen items out of the original 66 items were identified having higher loadings. Confirmed by the experts and passed a pilot test with 40 undergraduate students, a short form of THLS is then introduced. This research then used 839 samples from the major cities of the Hua-lien county in the eastern part of Taiwan to test the reliability and validity of this new scale. The reliability of the scale is high and acceptable. The current scale is also highly correlated with the original, of which provide evidence for the validity of the scale.
Abstract: The one of best robust search technique on large scale
search area is heuristic and meta heuristic approaches. Especially in
issue that the exploitation of combinatorial status in the large scale
search area prevents the solution of the problem via classical
calculating methods, so such problems is NP-complete. in this
research, the problem of winner determination in combinatorial
auctions have been formulated and by assessing older heuristic
functions, we solve the problem by using of genetic algorithm and
would show that this new method would result in better performance
in comparison to other heuristic function such as simulated annealing
greedy approach.
Abstract: A novel method of individual level adaptive mutation rate control called the rank-scaled mutation rate for genetic algorithms is introduced. The rank-scaled mutation rate controlled genetic algorithm varies the mutation parameters based on the rank of each individual within the population. Thereby the distribution of the fitness of the papulation is taken into consideration in forming the new mutation rates. The best fit mutate at the lowest rate and the least fit mutate at the highest rate. The complexity of the algorithm is of the order of an individual adaptation scheme and is lower than that of a self-adaptation scheme. The proposed algorithm is tested on two common problems, namely, numerical optimization of a function and the traveling salesman problem. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms both the fixed and deterministic mutation rate schemes. It is best suited for problems with several local optimum solutions without a high demand for excessive mutation rates.
Abstract: In this communication a quantitative modeling
approach is applied to construct model for the exchange of gases
from open sewer channel to the atmosphere. The data for the
exchange of gases of the open sewer channel for the year January
1979 to December 2006 is utilized for the construction of the model.
The study reveals that stream flow of the open sewer channel
exchanges the toxic gases continuously with time varying scale. We
find that the quantitative modeling approach is more parsimonious
model for these exchanges. The usual diagnostic tests are applied for
the model adequacy. This model is beneficial for planner and
managerial bodies for the improvement of implemented policies to
overcome future environmental problems.
Abstract: Full adders are important components in applications
such as digital signal processors (DSP) architectures and
microprocessors. In addition to its main task, which is adding two
numbers, it participates in many other useful operations such as
subtraction, multiplication, division,, address calculation,..etc. In
most of these systems the adder lies in the critical path that
determines the overall speed of the system. So enhancing the
performance of the 1-bit full adder cell (the building block of the
adder) is a significant goal.Demands for the low power VLSI have
been pushing the development of aggressive design methodologies to
reduce the power consumption drastically. To meet the growing
demand, we propose a new low power adder cell by sacrificing the
MOS Transistor count that reduces the serious threshold loss
problem, considerably increases the speed and decreases the power
when compared to the static energy recovery full (SERF) adder. So a
new improved 14T CMOS l-bit full adder cell is presented in this
paper. Results show 50% improvement in threshold loss problem,
45% improvement in speed and considerable power consumption
over the SERF adder and other different types of adders with
comparable performance.
Abstract: In this work we present some matrix operators named
circulant operators and their action on square matrices. This study on
square matrices provides new insights into the structure of the space
of square matrices. Moreover it can be useful in various fields as in
agents networking on Grid or large-scale distributed self-organizing
grid systems.
Abstract: In this paper, by using Mawhin-s continuation theorem of coincidence degree and a method based on delay differential inequality, some sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence and global exponential stability of periodic solutions of cellular neural networks with distributed delays and impulses on time scales. The results of this paper generalized previously known results.
Abstract: The process of wafer fabrication is arguably the most
technologically complex and capital intensive stage in semiconductor
manufacturing. This large-scale discrete-event process is highly reentrant,
and involves hundreds of machines, restrictions, and
processing steps. Therefore, production control of wafer fabrication
facilities (fab), specifically scheduling, is one of the most challenging
problems that this industry faces. Dispatching rules have been
extensively applied to the scheduling problems in semiconductor
manufacturing. Moreover, lot release policies are commonly used in
this manufacturing setting to further improve the performance of such
systems and reduce its inherent variability. In this work, simulation is
used in the scheduling of re-entrant flow shop manufacturing systems
with an application in semiconductor wafer fabrication; where, a
simulation model has been developed for the Intel Five-Machine Six
Step Mini-Fab using the ExtendTM simulation environment. The
Mini-Fab has been selected as it captures the challenges involved in
scheduling the highly re-entrant semiconductor manufacturing lines.
A number of scenarios have been developed and have been used to
evaluate the effect of different dispatching rules and lot release
policies on the selected performance measures. Results of simulation
showed that the performance of the Mini-Fab can be drastically
improved using a combination of dispatching rules and lot release
policy.