Abstract: Beta-glucosidase, chitinase, leucine-aminopeptidase, acid phosphomonoesterase and acetate-esterase enzyme activities in
the soils under the impact of metallurgical industrial activity in Lori
marz (district) were investigated. The results of the study showed that
the activities of the investigated enzymes in the soils decreased with increasing distance from the Shamlugh copper mine, the Chochkan
tailings storage facility and the ore transportation road. Statistical
analysis revealed that the activities of the enzymes were positively
correlated (significant) to each other according to the observation
sites which indicated that enzyme activities were affected by the
same anthropogenic factor. The investigations showed that the soils
were polluted with heavy metals (Cu, Pb, As, Co, Ni, Zn) due to
copper mining activity in this territory. The results of Pearson
correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation
between heavy metal pollution degree (Nemerow integrated pollution
index) and soil enzyme activity. All of this indicated that copper
mining activity in this territory causing the heavy metal pollution of
the soils resulted in the inhabitation of the activities of the enzymes
which are considered as biological catalysts to decompose organic
materials and facilitate the cycling of nutrients.
Abstract: If teamwork is the key to organizational learning,
productivity and growth, then, why do some teams succeed in
achieving these, while others falter at different stages? Building
teams in higher education institutions has been a challenge and an
open-ended constructivist approach was considered on an
experimental basis for this study to address this challenge. For this
research, teams of students from the MBA program were chosen to
study the effect of teamwork in learning, the motivation levels among
student team members, and the effect of collaboration in achieving
team goals. The teams were built on shared vision and goals,
cohesion was ensured, positive induction in the form of faculty
mentoring was provided for each participating team and the results
have been presented with conclusions and suggestions.
Abstract: This paper argues nation-building theories that
prioritize democratic governance best explain the successful postindependence
development of Botswana. Three main competing
schools of thought exist regarding the sequencing of policies that
should occur to re-build weakened or failed states. The first posits
that economic development should receive foremost attention, while
democratization and a binding sense of nationalism can wait. A
second group of experts identified constructing a sense of nationalism
among a populace is necessary first, so that the state receives popular
legitimacy and obedience that are prerequisites for development.
Botswana, though, transitioned into a multi-party democracy and
prosperous open economy due to the utilization of traditional
democratic structures, enlightened and accountable leadership, and an
educated technocratic civil service. With these political foundations
already in place when the discovery of diamonds occurred, the
resulting revenues were spent wisely on projects that grew the
economy, improved basic living standards, and attracted foreign
investment. Thus democratization preceded, and therefore provided
an accountable basis for, economic development that might otherwise
have been squandered by greedy and isolated elites to the detriment
of the greater population. Botswana was one of the poorest nations in
the world at the time of its independence in 1966, with little
infrastructure, a dependence on apartheid South Africa for trade, and
a largely subsistence economy. Over the next thirty years, though, its
economy grew the fastest of any nation in the world. The transparent
and judicious use of diamond returns is only a partial explanation, as
the government also pursued economic diversification, mass
education, and rural development in response to public needs.
As nation-building has become a project undertaken by nations
and multilateral agencies such as the United Nations and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, Botswana may provide best practices
that others should follow in attempting to reconstruct economically
and politically unstable states.
Abstract: Degradation of agricultural soils has increased rapidly
during the last 20 years due to the indiscriminate use of pesticides
and other anthropogenic activities. Currently, there is an urgent need
of soil restoration to increase agricultural production. Utilization of
sewage sludge or municipal solid waste is an important way to
recycle nutrient elements and improve soil quality. With these
amendments, nutrient availability in the aqueous phase might be
increased and production of healthier crops can be accomplished.
This research project aimed to achieve sustainable management of
tropical agricultural soils, specifically in Puerto Rico, through the
amendment of water treatment plant sludge’s. This practice avoids
landfill disposal of sewage sludge and at the same time results costeffective
practice for recycling solid waste residues. Coriander
sativum was cultivated in a compost-soil-sludge mixture at different
proportions. Results showed that Coriander grown in a mixture of
25% compost+50% Voladora soi+25% sludge had the best growth
and development. High chlorophyll content (33.01 ± 0.8) was
observed in Coriander plants cultivated in 25% compost+62.5%
Coloso soil+ 12.5% sludge compared to plants grown with no sludge
(32.59 ± 0.7). ICP-OES analysis showed variations in mineral
element contents (macro and micronutrients) in coriander plant
grown I soil amended with sludge and compost.
Abstract: The objective of countercyclical capital buffer is to
encourage banks to build up buffers in good times that can be drawn
down in bad times. The aim of the report is to assess such decisions
by banks derived from three approaches. The approaches are the
aggregate credit-to-GDP ratio, credit growth as well as banking
sector profits. The approaches are implemented for Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania for the time period 2000-2012. The report compares
three approaches and analyses their relevance to the Baltic States by
testing the correlation between a growth in studied variables and a
growth of corresponding gaps. Methods used in the empirical part of
the report are econometric analysis as well as economic analysis,
development indicators, relative and absolute indicators and other
methods. The research outcome is a cross-Baltic comparison of two
alternative approaches to establish or release a countercyclical capital
buffer by banks and their implications for each Baltic country.
Abstract: The Algeria by its location offers a rich and diverse
vegetation. A large number of aromatic and medicinal plants grow
spontaneously. The interest in these plants has continued to grow in
recent years. Their particular properties due to the essential oil
fraction can be utilized to treat microbial infections. To this end, and
in the context of the valuation of the Algerian flora, we became
interested in the species of the family Lamiaceae which is one of the
most used as a global source of spices. The plant on which we have
based our choice is a species of sage "Salvia officinalis" from the
Isser localized region within the province of Boumerdes. This work
focuses on the study of the antimicrobial activity of essential oil
extracted from the leaves of Salvia officinalis. The extraction is
carried out by essential oil hydrodistillation and reveals a yield of
1.06℅. The study of the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil by
the method of at aromatogramme shown that Gram positive bacteria
are most susceptible (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis)
with a strong inhibition of growth. The yeast Candida albicans
fungus Aspergillus niger and have shown moderately sensitive.
Abstract: Innovation plays an important role in economic
growth and development. Evolutionary economics has entrepreneurs
at the centre of the innovation system, but includes all other
participants as contributors to the performance of the innovation
system. Education and training institutions, one of the participants in
the innovation system, contributes in different ways to human capital.
The gap in literature on the competence building as part of human
capital in the analysis of innovation systems is addressed in this
paper. The Mpumalanga Province of South Africa is used as a case
study. It was found that the absence of a university, the level of
education, the quality and performance in the education sector and
the condition of the education infrastructure have not been conducive
to learning.
Abstract: In this work, we attempt to analyze the contribution of
innovative activities to firm performance and growth. We examine
economic data from some of the economies that were heavily
affected by current economic crisis: the countries of southern Europe
(Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) and Ireland. Following literature,
an appropriate econometric model is developed and several indicators
are tested in order to disclose possible relation with innovative
activity. Findings confirm the crucial effect of innovative process in
economic activity, in firm and country level.
Abstract: Most people today are aware that global climate
change is not just a scientific theory but also a fact with worldwide
consequences. Global climate change is due to rapid urbanization,
industrialization, high population growth and current vulnerability of
the climatic condition. Water is becoming scarce as a result of global
climate change. To mitigate the problem arising due to global climate
change and its drought effect, harvesting rainwater from green roofs,
an environmentally-friendly and versatile technology, is becoming
one of the best assessment criteria and gaining attention in Malaysia.
This paper addresses the sustainability of green roofs and examines
the quality of water harvested from green roofs in comparison to
rainwater. The factors that affect the quality of such water, taking
into account, for example, roofing materials, climatic conditions, the
frequency of rainfall frequency and the first flush. A green roof was
installed on the Humid Tropic Centre (HTC) is a place of the study
on monitoring program for urban Stormwater Management Manual
for Malaysia (MSMA), Eco-Hydrological Project in Kuala Lumpur,
and the rainwater was harvested and evaluated on the basis of four
parameters i.e., conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH and
temperature. These parameters were found to fall between Class I and
Class III of the Interim National Water Quality Standards (INWQS)
and the Water Quality Index (WQI). Some preliminary treatment
such as disinfection and filtration could likely to improve the value of
these parameters to class I. This review paper clearly indicates that
there is a need for more research to address other microbiological and
chemical quality parameters to ensure that the harvested water is
suitable for use potable water for domestic purposes. The change in
all physical, chemical and microbiological parameters with respect to
storage time will be a major focus of future studies in this field.
Abstract: In the past few decades, the field of chemistry
education has grown tremendously and researches indicated that after
traditional chemistry instruction students often lacked deep
conceptual understanding and failed to integrate their ideas into
coherent conceptual framework. For several concepts in chemistry,
students at all levels have demonstrated difficulty in changing their
initial perceptions. Their perceptions are most often wrong and don't
agree with correct scientific concepts. This study explored the
effectiveness of intervention discussion sections for a college general
chemistry course designed to apply research on students
preconceptions, knowledge integration and student explanation.
Three interventions discussions lasting three hours on bond energy
and spontaneity were done tested and intervention (treatment)
students’ performances were compared with that of control group
which did not use the experimental pedagogy. Results indicated that
this instruction which was capable of identifying students'
misconceptions, initial conceptions and integrating those ideas into
class discussion led to enhanced conceptual understanding and better
achievement for the experimental group.
Abstract: Hybrid bioreactor having both suspended-growth and
attached-growth bacteria is found a novel and excellent bioreactor
system for treating the municipal wastewater containing inhibitory
substrates too. In this reactor a fraction of substrate is used by
suspended biomass and the remaining by attached biomass resulting
in the competition between the two growths for the substrate. The
combination of suspended and attached growth provides the system
with enhanced biomass concentration and sludge age more than those
in ASP. Similar to attached growth system, the hybrid bioreactor
ensures considerable efficiency for treating toxic and refractory
substances in wastewater. For the process design of hybrid bioreactor
a suitable mathematical model is required. Although various
mathematical models were developed on hybrid bioreactor in due
course of time in earlier research works, none of them was found
having a specific simplified solution of the corresponding models and
without having any drawback. To overcome this drawback authors
already developed a simplified mathematical model for process
design of a hybrid bioreactor. The present paper briefly highlights on
the various aspects of process design of an aerobic hybrid bioreactor
for the treatment of municipal wastewater.
Abstract: Now in some countries of the world the cellular
market is on the point of saturation, in others - positive dynamics of
development kept on. The reasons for it are also different, but there
are united by their general susceptibility to innovation changes, if
they are really innovative. If to take as an example the cellular market
of Kazakhstan it is defined by the low percent of smart phones at
consumers, the low population density, undercapacity of the 3G
channel, and absence of universal access to the LTE technology that
limits dynamical growth of this branch. These moments are
aggravated by failures of starting commercial projects by private
companies which prevent to be implemented and widely adopted to a
new product among consumers. The object of the research is possible
integration of wireless and program technologies at which
introduction the idea can regenerate in an innovation. The analysis of
existing projects in the market and the possible union of the
technologies through a prism of theoretical bases of innovative
activity shows that efficiency of the company by development and
introduction of innovations is possible only thanks to strict
observance of all terms and conditions of the innovative process
which main term is profit. Despite that fact that on a global scale the
innovativeness issue of companies is very popular, there are no
researches about possibility of innovative breaks in the field of
wireless access to the Internet in the cellular market of Kazakhstan.
Abstract: The dissimilar joint between aluminum/titanium
alloys (Al 6082 and Ti G2) were successfully achieved by CO2 laser
welding with a single pass and without filler material using the
overlap joint design. Laser welding parameters ranges combinations
were experimentally determined using Taguchi approach with the
objective of producing welded joint with acceptable welding profile
and high quality of mechanical properties. In this study a joining of
dissimilar Al 6082 / Ti G2 was resulted in three distinct regions
fusion area in the weldment. These regions are studied in terms of its
microstructural characteristics and microhardness which are directly
affecting the welding quality.
The weld metal was mainly composed of martensite alpha prime.
In two different metals in the two different sides of joint HAZ, grain
growth was detected. The microhardness of the joint distribution also
has shown microhardness increasing in the HAZ of two base metals
and a varying microhardness in fusion zone.
Abstract: Customer churn prediction is one of the most useful
areas of study in customer analytics. Due to the enormous amount
of data available for such predictions, machine learning and data
mining have been heavily used in this domain. There exist many
machine learning algorithms directly applicable for the problem of
customer churn prediction, and here, we attempt to experiment on
a novel approach by using a cognitive learning based technique in
an attempt to improve the results obtained by using a combination
of supervised learning methods, with cognitive unsupervised learning
methods.
Abstract: Bir El Djir is an important coastal township in Oran
department, located at 450 Km far away from Algiers on northwest of
Algeria. In this coastal area, the urban sprawl is one of the main
problems that reduce the limited highly fertile land. So, using the
remote sensing and GIS technologies have shown their great
capabilities to solve many earth resources issues.
The aim of this study is to produce land use and cover map for the
studied area at varied periods to monitor possible changes that may
occurred, particularly in the urban areas and subsequently predict
likely changes. For this, two spatial images SPOT and Landsat
satellites from 1987 and 2014 respectively were used to assess the
changes of urban expansion and encroachment during this period
with photo-interpretation and GIS approach.
The results revealed that the town of Bir El Djir has shown a
highest growth rate in the period 1987-2014 which is 1201.5 hectares
in terms of area. These expansions largely concern the new real estate
constructions falling within the social and promotional housing
programs launched by the government.
The most urban expansion is characterized by the new
construction in the form of spontaneous or peripheral precarious
habitat, but also unstructured slums settled especially in the
southeastern part of town.
Abstract: Nowadays, huge amount of multimedia repositories
make the browsing, retrieval and delivery of video contents very slow
and even difficult tasks. Video summarization has been proposed to
improve faster browsing of large video collections and more efficient
content indexing and access. In this paper, we focus on approaches to
video summarization. The video summaries can be generated in many
different forms. However, two fundamentals ways to generate
summaries are static and dynamic. We present different techniques
for each mode in the literature and describe some features used for
generating video summaries. We conclude with perspective for
further research.
Abstract: Offering a Product-Service System (PSS) is a
well-accepted strategy that companies may adopt to provide a set of
systemic solutions to customers. PSSs were initially provided in a
simple form but now take diversified and complex forms involving
multiple services, products and technologies. With the growing
interest in the PSS, frameworks for the PSS development have been
introduced by many researchers. However, most of the existing
frameworks fail to examine various relations existing in a complex
PSS. Since designing a complex PSS involves full integration of
multiple products and services, it is essential to identify not only
product-service relations but also product-product/ service-service
relations. It is also equally important to specify how they are related
for better understanding of the system. Moreover, as customers tend to
view their purchase from a more holistic perspective, a PSS should be
developed based on the whole system’s requirements, rather than
focusing only on the product requirements or service requirements.
Thus, we propose a framework to develop a complex PSS that is
coordinated fully with the requirements of both worlds. Specifically,
our approach adopts a multi-domain matrix (MDM). A MDM
identifies not only inter-domain relations but also intra-domain
relations so that it helps to design a PSS that includes highly desired
and closely related core functions/ features. Also, various dependency
types and rating schemes proposed in our approach would help the
integration process.
Abstract: Enterococci are important inhabitants of the animal
intestine and are widely used in probiotic products. A probiotic strain
is expected to possess several desirable properties in order to exert
beneficial effects. Therefore, the objective of this study was to
isolate, characterize and identify Enterococcus sp. from chicken cecal
and fecal samples to determine potential probiotic properties.
Enterococci were isolated from chicken ceca and feces of thirty three
clinically healthy chickens from a local farm. In vitro studies were
performed to assess antibacterial activity of the isolated LAB (using
agar well diffusion and cell free supernatant broth technique against
Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis), survival in acidic
conditions, resistance to bile salts, and their survival during simulated
gastric juice conditions at pH 2.5. Isolates were identified by
biochemical carbohydrate fermentation patterns using an API 50
CHL kit and API ZYM kits and by sequenced 16S rDNA. An isolate
belonging to E. faecium species exhibited inhibitory effect against S.
enteritidis. This isolate producing a clear zone as large as 10.30 mm
or greater and was able to grow in the coculture medium and at the
same time, inhibited the growth S. enteritidis. In addition, E. faecium
exhibited significant resistance under highly acidic conditions at pH
2.5 for 8 h and survived well in bile salt at 0.2% for 24 h and showing
ability to survive in the presence of simulated gastric juice at pH 2.5.
Based on these results, E. faecium isolate fulfills some of the criteria
to be considered as a probiotic strain and therefore, could be used as a
feed additive with good potential for controlling S. Enteritidis in
chickens. However, in vivo studies are needed to determine the safety
of the strain.
Abstract: This research has been conducted to study the method
of culture and comparing growth and biomass of Gracilaria corticata
cultured on rope and net for 50 days through two treatments (first
treatment: culture of alga on net and the second treatment: culture of
alga on rope and each treatment was repeated by four cases). During
culture period, the water of aquariums was replaced once every two
days for 40-50%. Also, 0.3-0.5 grams of urea fertilizer was added to
the culture environment for fertilization. Moreover, some of the
environmental factors such as pH, salinity and temperature of the
environment were measured on a daily basis. During the culture
period, extent of longitudinal growth of the species of both treatments
was equal. The said length was reached from 8-10 cm to 10.5-13 cm
accordingly. The resulted weight in repetitions of the first treatment
was higher than that of the second treatment in such a way as in the
first treatment, its weight reached from 10 grams to 21.119 grams and
in the second treatment, its weight reached from 10 grams to 17.663
grams. On a whole, it may be stated that that kind of alga being
studied has a considerable growth with respect to its volume. The
results have revealed that the percentage of daily growth and wet
weight at the end of the first treatment was higher than that of the
second treatment and it was registered as 0.934, 6.072 and 811.432 in
the first treatment and 0.797, 4.990 and 758.071 in the second
treatment respectively. This difference is significant (P
Abstract: Meeting the growth in demand for digital services
such as social media, telecommunications, and business and cloud
services requires large scale data centres, which has led to an increase
in their end use energy demand. Generally, over 30% of data centre
power is consumed by the necessary cooling overhead. Thus energy
can be reduced by improving the cooling efficiency. Air and liquid
can both be used as cooling media for the data centre. Traditional
data centre cooling systems use air, however liquid is recognised as a
promising method that can handle the more densely packed data
centres. Liquid cooling can be classified into three methods; rack heat
exchanger, on-chip heat exchanger and full immersion of the
microelectronics. This study quantifies the improvements of heat
transfer specifically for the case of immersed microelectronics by
varying the CPU and heat sink location. Immersion of the server is
achieved by filling the gap between the microelectronics and a water
jacket with a dielectric liquid which convects the heat from the CPU
to the water jacket on the opposite side. Heat transfer is governed by
two physical mechanisms, which is natural convection for the fixed
enclosure filled with dielectric liquid and forced convection for the
water that is pumped through the water jacket. The model in this
study is validated with published numerical and experimental work
and shows good agreement with previous work. The results show that
the heat transfer performance and Nusselt number (Nu) is improved
by 89% by placing the CPU and heat sink on the bottom of the
microelectronics enclosure.