Abstract: A square matrix over the complex field with non- negative integral trace is called a quasi-permutation matrix. For a finite group G the minimal degree of a faithful representation of G by quasi-permutation matrices over the rationals and the complex numbers are denoted by q(G) and c(G) respectively. Finally r (G) denotes the minimal degree of a faithful rational valued complex character of C. The purpose of this paper is to calculate q(G), c(G) and r(G) for the group S L(2, q) when extended by a certain group of order two.
Abstract: This study was to search for the desirable direction of
the sidewalk planning in Korea by establishing the concepts of
walking and pedestrian space, and analyzing the advanced precedents
in and out of country. Also, based on the precedent studies and
relevant laws, regulations, and systems, it aimed for the following
sequential process: firstly, to derive design elements from the
functions and characteristics of sidewalk and cluster the similar
elements by each characteristics, sampling representative
characteristics and making them hierarchical; then, to analyze their
significances via the first questionnaire survey, and the relative
weights and priorities of each elements via the Analytic Hierarchy
Process(AHP); finally, based on the analysis result, to establish the
frame of suggesting the direction of policy to improve the pedestrian
environment of sidewalk in urban commercial district for the future
planning and design of pedestrian space.
Abstract: detecting the deadlock is one of the important
problems in distributed systems and different solutions have been
proposed for it. Among the many deadlock detection algorithms,
Edge-chasing has been the most widely used. In Edge-chasing
algorithm, a special message called probe is made and sent along
dependency edges. When the initiator of a probe receives the probe
back the existence of a deadlock is revealed. But these algorithms are
not problem-free. One of the problems associated with them is that
they cannot detect some deadlocks and they even identify false
deadlocks. A key point not mentioned in the literature is that when
the process is waiting to obtain the required resources and its
execution has been blocked, how it can actually respond to probe
messages in the system. Also the question of 'which process should
be victimized in order to achieve a better performance when multiple
cycles exist within one single process in the system' has received
little attention. In this paper, one of the basic concepts of the
operating system - daemon - will be used to solve the problems
mentioned. The proposed Algorithm becomes engaged in sending
probe messages to the mandatory daemons and collects enough
information to effectively identify and resolve multi-cycle deadlocks
in distributed systems.
Abstract: New graph similarity methods have been proposed in this work with the aim to refining the chemical information extracted from molecules matching. For this purpose, data fusion of the isomorphic and nonisomorphic subgraphs into a new similarity measure, the Approximate Similarity, was carried out by several approaches. The application of the proposed method to the development of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) has provided reliable tools for predicting several pharmacological parameters: binding of steroids to the globulin-corticosteroid receptor, the activity of benzodiazepine receptor compounds, and the blood brain barrier permeability. Acceptable results were obtained for the models presented here.
Abstract: The aspiration of this research article is to target and
focus the gains of university-Industry (U-I) collaborations and
exploring those hurdles which are the obstacles for attaining these
gains. University-Industry collaborations have attained great
importance since 1980 in USA due to its application in all fields of
life. U-I collaboration is a bilateral process where academia is a
proactive member to make such alliances. Universities want to
ameliorate their academic-base with the technicalities of technobabbles.
U-I collaboration is becoming an essential lane for achieving
innovative goals in this century. Many developed nations have set
successful examples to prove this phenomenon as a catalyst to reduce
costs, efforts and personnel for R&D projects. This study is exploits
amplitudes of UI collaboration incentives in the light of success
stories of developed countries. Many universities in USA, UK,
Canada and various European Countries have been engaged with
enterprises for numerous collaborative agreements. A long list of
strategic and short term R&D projects has been executed in
developed countries to accomplish their intended purposes. Due to
the lack of intentions, genuine research and research-oriented
environment, the mentioned field could not grow very well in
developing countries. During last decade, a new wave of research
has induced the institutes of developing countries to promote R&D
culture especially in Pakistan. Higher Education Commission (HEC)
has initiated many projects and funding supports for universities
which have collaborative intentions with industry.
Findings show that rapid innovation, overwhelm the technological
complexities and articulated intellectual-base are major incentives
which steer both partners to establish faculty-industry alliances. Everchanging
technologies, concerned about intellectual property,
different research environment and culture, research relevancy (Basic
or applied), exposure differences and diversity of knowledge
(bookish or practical) are main barriers to establish and retain joint
ventures. Findings also concluded that, it is dire need to support and
enhance cooperation among academia and industry to promote highly
coordinated research behaviors. Author has proposed a roadmap for
developing countries to promote R&D clusters among faculty and
industry to deal the technological challenges and innovation
complexities. Based on our research findings, Model for R&D
Collaboration for developing countries also have been proposed to
promote articulated R&D environment. If developing countries
follow this phenomenon, rapid innovations can be achieved with
limited R&D budget heads.
Abstract: A novel robust audio watermarking scheme is
proposed in this paper. In the proposed scheme, the host audio signals
are segmented into frames. Two consecutive frames are assessed if
they are suitable to represent a watermark bit. If so, frequency
transform is performed on these two frames. The compressionexpansion
technique is adopted to generate distortion over the two
frames. The distortion is used to represent one watermark bit.
Psychoacoustic model is applied to calculate local auditory mask to
ensure that the distortion is not audible. The watermarking schemes
using mono and stereo audio signals are designed differently. The
correlation-based detection method is used to detect the distortion
and extract embedded watermark bits. The experimental results show
that the quality degradation caused by the embedded watermarks is
perceptually transparent and the proposed schemes are very robust
against different types of attacks.
Abstract: the obligatory step during immunoglobulin and lysozyme concentration process is thermal treatment. The combination of temperature and time used in processing can affect the structure of the proteins and involve unfolding and aggregation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the heat stability of total Igs, the particular immunoglobulin classes and lysozyme in milk. Milk samples were obtained from conventional dairy herd in Latvia. Raw milk samples were pasteurized in different regimes: 63 °C 30 min, 72 °C 15-20 s, 78 °C 15-20 s, 85 °C 15-20 s, 95 °C 15-20 s. The concentrations of Igs (IgA, IgG, IgM) and lysozyme were determined by turbodimetric method. During research was established, that activity of antimicrobial proteins decreases differently. Less concentration reduce was established in a case of lysozyme.
Abstract: In this paper an algorithm based on the adaptive
neuro-fuzzy controller is provided to enhance the tipover stability of
mobile manipulators when they are subjected to predefined
trajectories for the end-effector and the vehicle. The controller
creates proper configurations for the manipulator to prevent the robot
from being overturned. The optimal configuration and thus the most
favorable control are obtained through soft computing approaches
including a combination of genetic algorithm, neural networks, and
fuzzy logic. The proposed algorithm, in this paper, is that a look-up
table is designed by employing the obtained values from the genetic
algorithm in order to minimize the performance index and by using
this data base, rule bases are designed for the ANFIS controller and
will be exerted on the actuators to enhance the tipover stability of the
mobile manipulator. A numerical example is presented to
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Abstract: The search for competitive advantages as one of the
main activities of a company has become a principle of contemporary
theories on Strategic Management. Innovation facilitates a company's
adaptation to the global competitive environment, representing the
important strategic role that it has to play in relation to managerial
performance and, as such, underlines the growing importance of
innovation and the use of a company's technological assets. This
paper therefore studies the effect in the results of four dimensions of
technological innovation strategy on a sample of Spanish wineries,
situated in the Castilla La-Mancha region of Spain, all of which are
registered under the La Mancha Designation of Origin (DO).
Abstract: In this paper a new approach to prioritize urban planning projects in an efficient and reliable way is presented. It is based on environmental pressure indices and multicriteria decision methods. The paper introduces a rigorous method with acceptable complexity of rank ordering urban development proposals according to their environmental pressure. The technique combines the use of Environmental Pressure Indicators, the aggregation of indicators in an Environmental Pressure Index by means of the Analytic Network Process method and interpreting the information obtained from the experts during the decision-making process. The ANP method allows the aggregation of the experts- judgments on each of the indicators into one Environmental Pressure Index. In addition, ANP is based on utility ratio functions which are the most appropriate for the analysis of uncertain data, like experts- estimations. Finally, unlike the other multicriteria techniques, ANP allows the decision problem to be modelled using the relationships among dependent criteria. The method has been applied to the proposal for urban development of La Carlota airport in Caracas (Venezuela). The Venezuelan Government would like to see a recreational project develop on the abandoned area and mean a significant improvement for the capital. There are currently three options on their table which are currently under evaluation. They include a Health Club, a Residential area and a Theme Park. The participating experts coincided in the appreciation that the method proposed in this paper is useful and an improvement from traditional techniques such as environmental impact studies, lifecycle analysis, etc. They find the results obtained coherent, the process seems sufficiently rigorous and precise, and the use of resources is significantly less than in other methods.
Abstract: This survey of recent literature examines the link between growth and poverty. It is widely accepted that economic growth is a necessary condition for sustainable poverty reduction. But it is the fact that the economic growth of some countries has been pro-poor while others not. Some factors such as labor market, policies and demographic factors may lead to a weak relationship between economic performance and poverty rate. In this sense pro-growth policies should be pro-poor to increase the poverty alleviation effects of the growth. The purpose of this study is to review the recent studies on the effects of macroeconomic policies on poverty and inequality and to review the poverty analyses which examine the relationship between growth, poverty and inequality. Also this study provides some facts about the relationship between economic growth, inequality and poverty from Turkey. Keywordseconomic growth, inequality, macroeconomic policy, poverty
Abstract: Automatic reusability appraisal could be helpful in
evaluating the quality of developed or developing reusable software
components and in identification of reusable components from
existing legacy systems; that can save cost of developing the software
from scratch. But the issue of how to identify reusable components
from existing systems has remained relatively unexplored. In this
paper, we have mentioned two-tier approach by studying the
structural attributes as well as usability or relevancy of the
component to a particular domain. Latent semantic analysis is used
for the feature vector representation of various software domains. It
exploits the fact that FeatureVector codes can be seen as documents
containing terms -the idenifiers present in the components- and so
text modeling methods that capture co-occurrence information in
low-dimensional spaces can be used. Further, we devised Neuro-
Fuzzy hybrid Inference System, which takes structural metric values
as input and calculates the reusability of the software component.
Decision tree algorithm is used to decide initial set of fuzzy rules for
the Neuro-fuzzy system. The results obtained are convincing enough
to propose the system for economical identification and retrieval of
reusable software components.
Abstract: The main thrust of this paper is to assess the level of disclosure in the annual reports of non-financial Greek firms and to empirically investigate the hypothesized impact of several firm characteristics on the extent of mandatory disclosure. A disclosure checklist consisting of 100 mandatory items was developed to assess the level of disclosure in the 2009 annual reports of 43 Greek companies listed at the Athens stock exchange. The association between the level of disclosure and some firm characteristics was examined using multiple linear regression analysis. The study reveals that Greek companies on general have responded adequately to the mandatory disclosure requirements of the regulatory bodies. The findings also indicate that firm size was significant positively associated with the level of disclosure. The remaining variables such as age, profitability, liquidity, and board composition were found to be insignificant in explaining the variation of mandatory disclosures. The outcome of this study is undoubtedly of great concern to the investment community at large to assist in evaluating the extent of mandatory disclosure by Greek firms and explaining the variation of disclosure in light of firm-specific characteristics.
Abstract: Non-profit organizations, especially religious-based
institutions, have long played a very important role in society.
Nevertheless, scandals such as inefficient management and the use of
unlawful fundraising activities have raised questions regarding the
governance and accountability of these organizations. As such, the
issues have attracted considerable research interest. However, there is
still limited research on accountability in religious based
organizations, especially in the context of Islamic religious
organizations. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the
issues of accounting and accountability in religious organizations,
specifically in Islamic religious establishments. The paper starts by
looking at the conventional meaning and concept of accountability.
This is followed by a discussion of the principles of accountability
within the Islamic framework. In so doing, the history of the role of
accounting within Muslim society and also the differences between
the Islamic and conventional view of accountability are reviewed.
Insights gained from previous research on accountability in faith
based organizations are also discussed
Abstract: In order to study the effects of supplemental irrigation, different levels of nitrogen chemical fertilizer and inoculation with rhizobium bacteria on the grain yield of chickpea, an experiment was carried out using split plot arrangement in randomize complete block design with three replication in agricultural researches station of Zanjan, Iran during 2009-2010 cropping season. The factors of experiment consisted of irritation (without irrigation (I1), irrigation at flowering stage (I2), irrigation at flowering and grain filling stages (I3) and full irrigation (I4)) and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer (without using of nitrogen fertilizer (N0), 75 kg.ha-1 (N75), 150 kg.ha-1 (N150) and inoculation with rhizobium bacteria (N4). The results of the analysis of variance showed that the effects of irrigation, nitrogen fertilizer levels and bacterial inoculation, were significant affect on number of pods per plant, number grains per plant, grain weight, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index at 1% probability level. Also Results showed that the grain yield in full irrigation treatment and inoculated with rhizobium bacteria was significantly higher than the other treatments.
Abstract: Processing tabah bamboo shoot as fermented pickle is
one of the way to increase the shelf life of this bamboo shoot. The
advantage of this shoot is low concentration of hydro cyanic acid
(HCN) make it potential for functional food product. This study
aimed to determine the characteristic of tabah bamboo shoot pickle
such as total of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), pH, total acidity, and
hydro cyanic acid (HCN) content, and also find the LAB’s type
involved during fermentation, and organic acids’ profiles. The pickle
was made by natural fermentation with 6% salt concentration and
fermentation conducted for 13 days.
The result showed during the fermentation time, in the 4th day
LAB’s number was highest as much as 72 x 107 CFU/ml and the
lowest pH was 3.09. We also found decreasing in HCN from 37.8
ppm at the beginning to 20.52 ppm at the end of fermentation
process. The organic acids detected during the fermentation were
lactic acid with the highest concentration was 0.0546 g/100 g and
small amount of acetic acid. By using PCR method, the 18 of LABs
which had rod shape were detected as member of Lactobacillus spp.,
in which 17 strains detected as L. plantarum.
Abstract: Several recent studies have shown that the
transparency of financial reporting have a significant influence on investor-s decisions. Thus, regulation authorities and professional
organizations (IFAC) have emphasized the role of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) and interactive data as a means of
promoting transparency and monitoring corporate reporting. In this
context, this paper has as objective the analysis of interactive reporting through XBRL and its use as a support in the process of
taking decisions in corporate governance, namely the potential of interactive reports in XBRL to increase the transparency and
monitoring process of corporate governance.
Abstract: Development of knowledge based society carries multiple challenges to the higher education system. Some of the challenges laid before the higher education sector of countries which aspire to become knowledge based societies are: the entrepreneurial leadership of the higher education institutions, finding new sources of financing in order to minimize dependence on public resources, creating connections with the labor market, commercial utilization of R&D results, promotion of innovations as well as the overall promotion of science excellence relevant to the economic sector. Within a framework of this paper and its main subject of research, the challenge which is being put before the higher education institutions is an effort of establishing regional mission of higher education through the open collaboration with regional key factors, both private and public. Development of the mentioned collaboration and its contribution to the overall regional development in Croatia is the main subject of empirical research in this paper.
Abstract: In this paper, linear multistep technique using power
series as the basis function is used to develop the block methods
which are suitable for generating direct solution of the special second
order ordinary differential equations with associated initial or
boundary conditions. The continuous hybrid formulations enable us
to differentiate and evaluate at some grids and off – grid points to
obtain two different four discrete schemes, each of order (5,5,5,5)T,
which were used in block form for parallel or sequential solutions of
the problems. The computational burden and computer time wastage
involved in the usual reduction of second order problem into system
of first order equations are avoided by this approach. Furthermore, a
stability analysis and efficiency of the block methods are tested on
linear and non-linear ordinary differential equations and the results
obtained compared favorably with the exact solution.
Abstract: This paper attempts to investigate the factors that influence hotel managers- attitudes towards sustainable tourism practices (STP) in Kuala Lumpur and the state of Selangor in Malaysia. The study distributes 104 questionnaires to hotels ranging from one star to five-star categories including budget hotels. Out of this figure, 60 copies of the questionnaires were returned and analyzed. The finding revealed that of all the seven factors investigated, only the variables measuring incentives and knowledge have significantly influenced sustainable tourism practices in the country. Therefore, government and other green bodies within the country should continue to provide hotels with incentives for sound technologies. Moreover, the government agencies should continue to educate hoteliers on the relevance of environmental protection for the successful implementation of sustainable tourism practices.