Abstract: ANNARIMA that combines both autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and artificial neural network (ANN) model is a valuable tool for modeling and forecasting nonlinear time series, yet the over-fitting problem is more likely to occur in neural network models. This paper provides a hybrid methodology that combines both radial basis function (RBF) neural network and auto regression (AR) model based on binomial smoothing (BS) technique which is efficient in data processing, which is called BSRBFAR. This method is examined by using the data of Canadian Lynx data. Empirical results indicate that the over-fitting problem can be eased using RBF neural network based on binomial smoothing which is called BS-RBF, and the hybrid model–BS-RBFAR can be an effective way to improve forecasting accuracy achieved by BSRBF used separately.
Abstract: In this paper, the effect of modified clay on the
mechanical efficiency of epoxy resin is examined. Studies by X ray
diffraction and microscopic transient electron method show that
modified clay distribution in polymer area is intercalated kind.
Examination the results of mechanical tests shows that existence of
modified clay in epoxy area increases pressure yield strength, tension
module and nano composite fracture toughness in relate of pure
epoxy. By microscopic examinations it is recognized too that the
action of toughness growth of this kind of nano composite is due to
crack deflection, formation of new surfaces and fracture of clay piles.
Abstract: The flow field around a flat plate of infinite span has
been investigated for several values of the angle of attack. Numerical
predictions have been compared to experimental measurements, in
order to examine the effect of turbulence model and grid resolution
on the resultant aerodynamic forces acting on the plate. Also the
influence of the free-stream turbulence intensity, at the entrance of
the computational domain, has been investigated. A full campaign of
simulations has been conducted for three inclination angles (9°, 15°
and 30°), in order to obtain some practical guidelines to be used for
the simulation of the flow field around inclined plates and discs.
Abstract: This evaluation of land supply system performance in
China shall examine the combination of government functions and
national goals in order to perform a cost-benefit analysis of system
results. From the author's point of view, it is most productive to
evaluate land supply system performance at moments of system
transformation for the following reasons. The behavior and
input-output change of beneficial results at different times can be
observed when the system or policy changes and system performance
can be evaluated through a cost-benefit analysis during the process of
system transformation. Moreover, this evaluation method can avoid
the influence of land resource endowment. Different land resource
endowment methods and different economy development periods
result in different systems. This essay studies the contents, principles
and methods of land supply system performance evaluation. Taking
Beijing as an example, this essay optimizes and classifies the land
supply index, makes a quantitative evaluation of land supply system
performance through principal component analysis (PCA), and finally
analyzes the factors that influence land supply system performance at
times of system transformation.
Abstract: The aim of this qualitative case study is to examine how school principals perform their new roles and responsibilities defined in accordance with the new curriculum. Of ten primary schools that the new curriculum was piloted in Istanbul in school year of 2004-2005, one school was randomly selected as the sample of the study. The participants of the study were comprised of randomly-selected 26 teachers working in the case school. To collect data, an interview schedule was developed based on the new role definitions for school principals by the National Ministry of Education. Participants were interviewed on one-to-one basis in February and March 2007. Overall results showed that the school principal was perceived to be successful in terms of the application of the new curriculum in school. According to the majority of teachers, the principal has done his best to establish the infrastructure that is necessary for successful application of the new program. In addition to these, the principal was reported to adopt a collegial and participatory leadership style by creating a positive school atmosphere that enables the school community (teachers, parents and students) to involve school more than before. Keywordscase study, curriculum implementation, school principals and curriculum
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate
the scale of implementation of Just-In-Time (JIT) in the different industrial sectors in the Middle East. This study analyzes the empirical data collected by a questionnaire survey distributed to
companies in three main industrial sectors in the Middle East, which
are: food, chemicals and fabrics. The following main hypotheses is formulated and tested: (The requirements of JIT application differ
according to the type of industrial sector).Descriptive statistics and Box plot analysis were used to examine the hypotheses. This study indicates a reasonable evidence for accepting the main hypotheses. It
reveals that there is no standard way to adopt JIT as a production system. But each industrial sector should concentrate in the
investment on critical requirements that differ according to the nature
and strategy of production followed in that sector.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a methodology for finding
authoritative researchers by analyzing academic Web sites. We show
a case study in which we concentrate on a set of Czech computer
science departments- Web sites. We analyze the relations between
them via hyperlinks and find the most important ones using several
common ranking algorithms. We then examine the contents of the
research papers present on these sites and determine the most
authoritative Czech authors.
Abstract: A new strategy for oriented immobilization of proteins was proposed. The strategy contains two steps. The first step is to search for a docking site away from the active site on the protein surface. The second step is trying to find a ligand that is able to grasp the targeted site of the protein. To avoid ligand binding to the active site of protein, the targeted docking site is selected to own opposite charges to those near the active site. To enhance the ligand-protein binding, both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions need to be included. The targeted docking site should therefore contain hydrophobic amino acids. The ligand is then selected through the help of molecular docking simulations. The enzyme α-amylase derived from Aspergillus oryzae (TAKA) was taken as an example for oriented immobilization. The active site of TAKA is surrounded by negatively charged amino acids. All the possible hydrophobic sites on the surface of TAKA were evaluated by the free energy estimation through benzene docking. A hydrophobic site on the opposite side of TAKA-s active site was found to be positive in net charges. A possible ligand, 3,3-,4,4- – Biphenyltetra- carboxylic acid (BPTA), was found to catch TAKA by the designated docking site. Then, the BPTA molecules were grafted onto silica gels and measured the affinity of TAKA adsorption and the specific activity of thereby immobilized enzymes. It was found that TAKA had a dissociation constant as low as 7.0×10-6 M toward the ligand BPTA on silica gel. The increase in ionic strength has little effect on the adsorption of TAKA, which indicated the existence of hydrophobic interaction between ligands and proteins. The specific activity of the immobilized TAKA was compared with the randomly adsorbed TAKA on primary amine containing silica gel. It was found that the orderly immobilized TAKA owns a specific activity twice as high as the one randomly adsorbed by ionic interaction.
Abstract: A generalization of the concepts of Feistel Networks (FN), known as Extended Feistel Network (EFN) is examined. EFN splits the input blocks into n > 2 sub-blocks. Like conventional FN, EFN consists of a series of rounds whereby at least one sub-block is subjected to an F function. The function plays a key role in the diffusion process due to its completeness property. It is also important to note that in EFN the F-function is the most computationally expensive operation in a round. The aim of this paper is to determine a suitable type of EFN for a scalable cipher. This is done by analyzing the threshold number of rounds for different types of EFN to achieve the completeness property as well as the number of F-function required in the network. The work focuses on EFN-Type I, Type II and Type III only. In the analysis it is found that EFN-Type II and Type III diffuses at the same rate and both are faster than Type-I EFN. Since EFN-Type-II uses less F functions as compared to EFN-Type III, therefore Type II is the most suitable EFN for use in a scalable cipher.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of
EBV infection in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma (NHL) occurring in Jordanian patients. A total of 55
patients with lymphoma were examined in this study. Of 55 patients,
30 and 25 were diagnosed as HL and NHL, respectively. The four
HL subtypes were observed with the majority of the cases exhibited
the mixed cellularity (MC) subtype followed by the nodular sclerosis
(NS). The high grade was found to be the commonest subtype of
NHL in our sample, followed by the low grade. The presence of EBV
virus was detected by immunostating for expression of latent
membrane protein-1 (LMP-1). The frequency of LMP-1 expression
occurred more frequent in patients with HL (60.0%) than in patients
with NHL (32.0%). The frequency of LMP-1 expression was also
higher in patients with MC subtype (61.11%) than those patients with
NS (28.57%). No age or gender difference in occurrence of EBV
infection was observed among patient with HL. By contrast, the
prevalence of EBV infection in NHL patients aged below 50 was
lower (16.66%) than in NHL patients aged 50 or above (46.15%). In
addition, EBV infection was more frequent in females with NHL
(38.46%) than in male with NHL (25%). In NHL cases, the
frequency of EBV infection in intermediate grade (60.0%) was high
when compared with frequency of low (25%) or high grades (25%).
In conclusion, analysis of LMP-1 expression indicates an important
role for this viral oncogene in the pathogenesis of EBV-associated
malignant lymphomas. These data also support the previous findings
that people with EBV may develop lymphoma and that efforts to
maintain low lymphoma should be considered for people with EBV
infection.
Abstract: Campus sustainability is the goal of a university striving for sustainable development. This study found that of 17 popular approaches, two comprehensive campus sustainability assessment frameworks were developed in the context of Sustainability in Higher Education (SHE), and used by many university campuses around the world. Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating Systems (STARS) and the Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework (CSAF) approaches are more comprehensive than others. Therefore, the researchers examined aspects and elements used by CSAF and STARS in the approach to develop a campus sustainability assessment framework for Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Documents analysis found that CSAF and STARS do not focus on physical development, especially the construction industry, as key elements of campus sustainability assessment. This finding is in accordance with the Sustainable UKM Programme which consists of three main components of sustainable community, ecosystem and physical development.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a method named Signal Level
Matrix (SLM) which can improve the accuracy and stability of active
RFID indoor positioning system. Considering the accuracy and cost,
we use uniform distribution mode to set up and separate the
overlapped signal covering areas, in order to achieve preliminary
location setting. Then, based on the proposed SLM concept and the
characteristic of the signal strength value that attenuates as the
distance increases, this system cross-examines the distribution of
adjacent signals to locate the users more accurately. The experimental
results indicate that the adaptive positioning method proposed in this
paper could improve the accuracy and stability of the positioning
system effectively and satisfyingly.
Abstract: Successful public-private-partnership (PPP)
implementation can not be achieved without the active participation of
private sector companies. This paper examines the decision-making of
private sector companies in public works delivered by the PPP model
on the basis of social responsibility theory. It proposes that private
sector companies should indentify objectives of entering into PPP
projects, and shoulder relevant social responsibilities, while a
minimum return should also be guaranteed in their favor, so as to
compensate for their assumed risk and support them to take on
responsibilities in the future. The paper also gives a calculation
regarding the appropriate scale and reasonable degree of private sector
involvement in PPP projects through the cost-benefit analysis in a
specific case study, with the purpose to guide the private sector
companies to create a cooperation environment resembling
“symbiosis" and facilitate the smooth implementation of public works
delivered by the PPP model.
Abstract: A study has been carried out to determine the effect of
coating two commercial glass-ionomer cements in either petroleum
jelly or wax. After coating, specimens were stored in water for 24 or
168 hours, then the coating removed and the surface examined.
Coating in wax was found to increase the surface hardness
significantly compared with the uncoated control, whereas coating
the specimens in petroleum jelly led to only a slight increase in
surface hardness. Coating in wax led to no detectable ion release
after either 24 or 168 hours, though there was some ion release after
the coating had been removed and the specimens exposed to water
for a further 24 hours. This shows that soluble species remained in
these specimens. Overall, this study confirms the idea that immature
glass-ionomers should be protected from early exposure to moisture,
and that the protection offered by petroleum jelly is only modest.
Abstract: Small signal stability causes small perturbations in the
generator that can cause instability in the power network. It is
generally known that small signal stability are directly related to the
generator and load properties. This paper examines the effects of
generator input variations on power system oscillations for a small
signal stability study. Eigenvaules and eigenvectors are used to
examine the stability of the power system. The dynamic power
system's mathematical model is constructed and thus calculated using
load flow and small signal stability toolbox on MATLAB. The power
system model is based on a 3-machine 9-bus system that was
modified to suit this study. In this paper, Participation Factors are a
means to gauge the effects of variation in generation with other
parameters on the network are also incorporated.
Abstract: This article examines the nature and structure of ecological education of biology specialists in Kazakhstan. Also characterizes the ecological education in high school and specific features in training of biology specialists.
Abstract: The accuracy of estimated stability and control
derivatives of a light aircraft from flight test data were evaluated. The light aircraft, named ChangGong-91, is the first certified aircraft from
the Korean government. The output error method, which is a maximum likelihood estimation technique and considers measurement
noise only, was used to analyze the aircraft responses measures. The
multi-step control inputs were applied in order to excite the short period mode for the longitudinal and Dutch-roll mode for the lateral-directional motion. The estimated stability/control derivatives of Chan Gong-91 were analyzed for the assessment of handling
qualities comparing them with those of similar aircraft. The accuracy of the flight derivative estimates derived from flight test measurement
was examined in engineering judgment, scatter and Cramer-Rao bound, which turned out to be satisfactory with minor defects..
Abstract: In hypersonic environments, the aerothermal effect
makes it difficult for the optical side windows of optical guided
missiles to withstand high heat. This produces cracking or breaking,
resulting in an inability to function. This study used computational
fluid mechanics to investigate the external cooling jet conditions of
optical side windows. The turbulent models k-ε and k-ω were
simulated. To be in better accord with actual aerothermal
environments, a thermal radiation model was added to examine
suitable amounts of external coolants and the optical window
problems of aero-thermodynamics. The simulation results indicate that
when there are no external cooling jets, because airflow on the optical
window and the tail groove produce vortices, the temperatures in these
two locations reach a peak of approximately 1600 K. When the
external cooling jets worked at 0.15 kg/s, the surface temperature of
the optical windows dropped to approximately 280 K. When adding
thermal radiation conditions, because heat flux dissipation was faster,
the surface temperature of the optical windows fell from 280 K to
approximately 260 K. The difference in influence of the different
turbulence models k-ε and k-ω on optical window surface temperature
was not significant.
Abstract: Recently, the design is becoming important in product development. The technology which is a strong point of Japan is immediately caught up by the foreign countries, and the price competition begins. Therefore companies tend to plan differentiation of products by the design or a color. The purpose of my work was to consider the optimal color for using by product development. We needed to clarify the thing leading to color preference for this purpose. Two kinds of investigations were made. By the first investigation, we found out that a geographical factor difference existed in color preference. Then, investigation which regarded the difference as latitude was conducted. However, the result expected from the difference in latitude was not obtained. It seems that it is necessary to set up difference of latitude a little more greatly, or to reexamine by other geographical factors.
Abstract: We investigate an asymmetric connections model with a
dynamic network formation process, using an agent based simulation.
We permit heterogeneity of agents- value. Valuable persons seem
to have many links on real social networks. We focus on this
point of view, and examine whether valuable agents change the
structures of the terminal networks. Simulation reveals that valuable
agents diversify the terminal networks. We can not find evidence that
valuable agents increase the possibility that star networks survive the
dynamic process. We find that valuable agents disperse the degrees
of agents in each terminal network on an average.