Abstract: A commercially-supported social network has become an emerging channel for an organization to communicate with and provide services to customers. The success of the commercially-supported social network depends on the ability of the organization to keep the customers in participating in the network. Drawing from the theories of information adoption, information systems continuance, and web usability, the author develops a model to explore how a commercially-supported social network can encourage customers to continue participating and using the information in the network. The theoretical model will be proved through an online survey of customers using the commercially-supported social networking sites of several high technology companies operating in the same sector. The result will be compared with previous studies to learn about the explanatory power of the research model, and to identify the main factors determining users’ intention to continue using a commercially-supported social network. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations are discussed.
Abstract: Modern engineering assets are complex and very high in value. They are expected to function for years to come, with ability to handle the change in technology and ageing modification. The aging of an engineering asset and continues increase of vendors and contractors numbers forces the asset operation management (or Owner) to design an asset system which can capture these changes. Furthermore, an accurate performance measurement and risk evaluation processes are highly needed. Therefore, this paper explores the nature of the asset management system performance evaluation for an engineering asset based on the System Support Engineering (SSE) principles. The research work explores the asset support system from a range of perspectives, interviewing managers from across a refinery organization. The factors contributing to complexity of an asset management system are described in context which clusters them into several key areas. It is proposed that SSE framework may then be used as a tool for analysis and management of asset. The paper will conclude with discussion of potential application of the framework and opportunities for future research.
Abstract: The internet is growing larger and becoming the most popular platform for the people to share their opinion in different interests. We choose the education domain specifically comparing some Malaysian universities against each other. This comparison produces benchmark based on different criteria shared by the online users in various online resources including Twitter, Facebook and web pages. The comparison is accomplished using opinion mining framework to extract, process the unstructured text and classify the result to positive, negative or neutral (polarity). Hence, we divide our framework to three main stages; opinion collection (extraction), unstructured text processing and polarity classification. The extraction stage includes web crawling, HTML parsing, Sentence segmentation for punctuation classification, Part of Speech (POS) tagging, the second stage processes the unstructured text with stemming and stop words removal and finally prepare the raw text for classification using Named Entity Recognition (NER). Last phase is to classify the polarity and present overall result for the comparison among the Malaysian universities. The final result is useful for those who are interested to study in Malaysia, in which our final output declares clear winners based on the public opinions all over the web.
Abstract: This paper deals with the modelling and simulation of the squirrel cage induction motor by taking into account all space harmonic components as well as the introduction of the bars skew in the calculation of the linear evolution of the magnetomotive force (MMF) between the slots extremities. The model used is based on multiple coupled circuits and the modified winding function approach (MWFA). The effect of skewing is included in the calculation of motors inductances with an axial asymmetry in the rotor. The simulation results in both time and spectral domains show the effectiveness and merits of the model and the error that may be caused if the skew of the bars are neglected.
Abstract: Scarcity in energy sector is a major problem, which can hamper the growing development of a country. Bangladesh is one of the electricity-deprived countries; however, the energy demand of Bangladesh is increasing day by day. Due to the shortage of natural resources and environmental issues, many nations are now moving towards renewable energy. Among various form of renewable energy, wind energy is one of most potential source. In this paper, the present energy condition of Bangladesh is discussed and the necessity of moving towards renewable energy is clarified. The wind speed found at different locations at different heights and different years from the survey of several organizations are presented. Although, the results of installed low capacity wind turbines (from few kW to few tens of kW) operated by private or government organization at different places in Bangladesh are not so encouraging; however, it is shown that Bangladesh has a high potential of using large wind turbine (MW range) for capturing wind energy at different places. The present condition of wind energy in Bangladesh and other countries in the world are also presented to emphasize the requisite of moving towards wind energy.
Abstract: In recent years, a reconstruction project for sewer
pipelines has been progressing in Japan with the aim of renewing old
sewer culverts. However, it is difficult to secure a sufficient base area
for shafts in an urban area because many streets are narrow with a
complex layout. As a result, construction in such urban areas is
generally very demanding.
In urban areas, there is a strong requirement for a safe, reliable and
economical construction method that does not disturb the public’s
daily life and urban activities. With this in mind, we developed a new
construction method called the “shield switching type micro-tunneling
method,” which integrates the micro-tunneling method and shield
method.
In this method, pipeline is constructed first for sections that are
gently curved or straight using the economical micro-tunneling
method, and then the method is switched to the shield method for
sections with a sharp curve or a series of curves without establishing
an intermediate shaft.
This paper provides the information, features and construction
examples of this newly developed method.
Abstract: The efficiency of heavy metals removal from sewage
sludge in bioleaching processes with heterotrophic, chemoautotrophic
(sulphur-oxidizing) sludge cenoses and chemical leaching (in
distilled water, weakly acidic or alkaline medium) was compared.
The efficacy of heavy metals removal from sewage sludge varies
from 83 % (Zn) up to 14 % (Cr) and follows the order: Zn > Mn > Cu
> Ni > Co > Pb > Cr. The advantages of metals bioleaching process
at heterotrophic metabolism were shown. A new process for
bioconversation of sewage sludge into fertilizer at middle
temperatures after partial heavy metals removal was developed. This
process is based on enhancing vital ability of heterotrophic
microorganisms by adding easily metabolized nutrients and synthesis
of metabolites by growing sludge cenoses. These metabolites possess
the properties of heavy metals extractants and flocculants which
provide the enhancement of sludge flocks sedimentation. The process
results in biomineral fertilizer of prolonged action with immobilized
sludge bioelements. The fertilizer satisfies the EU limits for the
sewage sludge of agricultural utilization. High efficiency of the
biomineral fertilizer obtained has been demonstrated in vegetation
experiments.
Abstract: Wavelet analysis has some strong advantages over Fourier analysis, as it allows a time-frequency domain analysis, allowing optimal resolution and flexibility. As a result, they have been satisfactorily applied in almost all the fields of communication systems including OFDM which is a strong candidate for next generation of wireless technology. In this paper, the performances of wavelet based Multiuser Multiple Input and Multiple Output Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MU-MIMO OFDM) systems are analyzed in terms of BER. It has been shown that the wavelet based systems outperform the classical FFT based systems. This analysis also unfolds an interesting result, where wavelet based OFDM system will have a constant error performance using Regularized Channel Inversion (RCI) beamforming for any number of users, and outperforms in all possible scenario in a multiuser environment. An extensive computer simulations show that a PAPR reduction of up to 6.8dB can be obtained with M=64.
Abstract: Online shopping enables consumers to search for information and purchase products or services through direct interaction with online store. This study aims to examine the effect of Internet marketing environment, product characteristics, familiarity and confidence, and promotional offers on consumer online shopping behavior. 200 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents, who are students and staff at a public university in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia, following simple random sampling as a means of data collection. Multiple regression analysis was used as a statistical measure to determine the strength of the relationship between one dependent variable and a series of other independent variables. Results revealed that familiarity and confidence was found to greatly influence consumer online shopping behavior followed by promotional offers. A clear understanding of consumer online shopping behavior can help marketing managers predict the online shopping rate and evaluate the future growth of online commerce.
Abstract: A supersonic expansion cannot be achieved within a convergent-divergent nozzle if the flow velocity does not reach that of the sound at the throat. The computation of the flow field characteristics at the throat is thus essential to the nozzle developed thrust value and therefore to the aircraft or rocket it propels. Several approaches were developed in order to describe the transonic expansion, which takes place through the throat of a De-Laval convergent-divergent nozzle. They all allow reaching good results but showing a major shortcoming represented by their inability to describe the transonic flow field for nozzles having a small throat radius. The approach initially developed by Kliegel & Levine uses the velocity series development in terms of the normalized throat radius added to unity instead of solely the normalized throat radius or the traditional small disturbances theory approach. The present investigation carries out the application of these three approaches for different throat radiuses of curvature. The method using the normalized throat radius added to unity shows better results when applied to geometries integrating small throat radiuses.
Abstract: Transient storage zones along the flow paths of rivers have great influence on the dispersion of pollutants that are either accidentally or otherwise led into them. The speed with which these pollution clouds get transported and dispersed downstream is, to a large extent, explained by the longitudinal dispersion coefficients in the free-flowing zones of rivers (Kf). In the present work, a new empirical expression for Kf has been derived employing genetic programming (GP) on published dispersion data. The proposed expression uses few hydraulic and geometric characteristics of a river that are readily available to field engineers. Based on various performance indices, the proposed expression is found superior to other existing expression for Kf.
Abstract: In this paper, the smallest such integer k is called by the index (of nilpotence) of B such that Bk = 0. In this paper, we study sign patterns allowing nilpotence of index k and obtain four methods to construct sign patterns allowing nilpotence of index at
most k, which generalizes some recent results.
Abstract: By hand pollination was conducted to evaluated different pollen sources and their affects on fruit set and quality of wax apple. The following parameters were recorded: fruit set, seed set, fruit characteristics. Results showed that fruit set percentage with seed were significantly high in ‘Long Red B’ when ‘Black’, ‘Thyto’ were used as pollen parents. Pollen of ‘Black’, ‘Thyto’ resulted in high fruit weight, fruit diameter, fruit length, bigger flesh thickness, better total soluble solids as compared with other pollens. The observation of pollen-growth in vitro revealed that pollen germination at 15% sucrose concentration are required for optimum pollen germination with the high pollen germination were found in ‘Black’, ‘Thyto’. From the result, we concluded that ‘Black’, ‘Thyto’ were proved to be good pollinizers in ‘Long Red B’. Therefore, artificial cross-pollination using ‘Black’, ‘Thyto’ as pollinizers were strongly recommended for ‘Long Red B’ cultivar in wax apple orchard.
Abstract: Recently many cases of missing children between ages 14 and 17 years are reported. Parents always worry about the possibility of kidnapping of their children. This paper proposes an Android based solution to aid parents to track their children in real time. Nowadays, most mobile phones are equipped with location services capabilities allowing us to get the device’s geographic position in real time. The proposed solution takes the advantage of the location services provided by mobile phone since most of kids carry mobile phones. The mobile application use the GPS and SMS services found in Android mobile phones. It allows the parent to get their child’s location on a real time map. The system consists of two sides, child side and parent side. A parent’s device main duty is to send a request location SMS to the child’s device to get the location of the child. On the other hand, the child’s device main responsibility is to reply the GPS position to the parent’s device upon request.
Abstract: This paper produces a new approach for power quality analysis using a windowing technique based on Continuous S-transform (CST). This half-cycle window technique approach can detect almost correctly for initial detection of disturbances i.e. voltage sags, swells, and transients. Samples in half cycle window has been analyzed based continuous S-transform for entire disturbance waveform. The modified parameter has been produced by MATLAB programming m-file based on continuous s-transform. CST has better time frequency and localization property than traditional and also has ability to detect the disturbance under noisy condition correctly. The excellent time-frequency resolution characteristic of the CST makes it the most an attractive candidate for analysis of power system disturbances signals.
Abstract: In Korea, elements that decide the quality of residential environment are not only diverse, but show deviation as well. However, people do not consider these elements and instead, they try to settle the uniformed style of residential environment, which focuses on the construction development of apartment housing and business based plans. Recently, block-unit redevelopment is becoming the standout alternative plan of standardize redevelopment projects, but constructions become inefficient because of indefinite planning criteria.
In conclusion, the following research is about analyzing and categorizing the development method and legal ground of redevelopment project district and plan determinant and applicable standard; the purpose of this study is to become a basis in compatible analysis of planning standards that will happen in the future.
Abstract: Advancement of communication technologies and smart devices in the recent times is leading to changes into the integrated wired and wireless communication environments. Since early days, businesses had started introducing environments for mobile device application to their operations in order to improve productivity (efficiency) and the closed corporate environment gradually shifted to an open structure. Recently, individual user's interest in working environment using mobile devices has increased and a new corporate working environment under the concept of BYOD is drawing attention. BYOD (bring your own device) is a concept where individuals bring in and use their own devices in business activities. Through BYOD, businesses can anticipate improved productivity (efficiency) and also a reduction in the cost of purchasing devices. However, as a result of security threats caused by frequent loss and theft of personal devices and corporate data leaks due to low security, companies are reluctant about adopting BYOD system. In addition, without considerations to diverse devices and connection environments, there are limitations in detecting abnormal behaviors, such as information leaks, using the existing network-based security equipment. This study suggests a method to detect abnormal behaviors according to individual behavioral patterns, rather than the existing signature-based malicious behavior detection, and discusses applications of this method in BYOD environment.
Abstract: Many inherited diseases and non-hereditary disorders are common in the development of renal cystic diseases. Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a disorder developed within the kidneys in which grouping of cysts filled with water like fluid. PKD is responsible for 5-10% of end-stage renal failure treated by dialysis or transplantation. New experimental models, application of molecular biology techniques have provided new insights into the pathogenesis of PKD. Researchers are showing keen interest for developing an automated system by applying computer aided techniques for the diagnosis of diseases. In this paper a multilayered feed forward neural network with one hidden layer is constructed, trained and tested by applying back propagation learning rule for the diagnosis of PKD based on physical symptoms and test results of urinalysis collected from the individual patients. The data collected from 50 patients are used to train and test the network. Among these samples, 75% of the data used for training and remaining 25% of the data are used for testing purpose. Further, this trained network is used to implement for new samples. The output results in normality and abnormality of the patient.
Abstract: In today’s heterogeneous network environment, there is a growing demand for distrust clients to jointly execute secure network to prevent from malicious attacks as the defining task of propagating malicious code is to locate new targets to attack. Residual risk is always there no matter what solutions are implemented or whet so ever security methodology or standards being adapted. Security is the first and crucial phase in the field of Computer Science. The main aim of the Computer Security is gathering of information with secure network. No one need wonder what all that malware is trying to do: It's trying to steal money through data theft, bank transfers, stolen passwords, or swiped identities. From there, with the help of our survey we learn about the importance of white listing, antimalware programs, security patches, log files, honey pots, and more used in banks for financial data protection but there’s also a need of implementing the IPV6 tunneling with Crypto data transformation according to the requirements of new technology to prevent the organization from new Malware attacks and crafting of its own messages and sending them to the target. In this paper the writer has given the idea of implementing IPV6 Tunneling Secessions on private data transmission from financial organizations whose secrecy needed to be safeguarded.
Abstract: Several review papers exist in literature related to the concrete containing mineral admixtures; however this paper reviews the durability characteristics of the concrete containing fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), metakaolin (MK) and rice husk ash (RHA). Durability related properties reviewed include permeability, resistance to sulfate attack, alkali-silica reaction (ASR), carbonation, chloride ion penetration, freezing and thawing, abrasion, fire, acid and efflorescence. From review of existing literature, it is found that permeability of concrete depends upon the content of alumina in mineral admixtures, i.e. higher the alumina content, lesser the permeability which results higher resistance to sulfate and chloride ion penetration. Highly reactive mineral admixtures prevent more ASR and reduce efflorescence. The carbonation increases with the mineral admixtures because higher water binder ratio and lesser content of portlandite in concrete due to pozzolanic reaction. Mineral admixtures require air entrainment except MK and RHA for better resistance to freezing and thawing.