Abstract: Mobile banking services present a unique growth
opportunity for mobile operators in emerging markets, and have
already made good progress in bringing financial services to the
previously unbanked populations of many developing countries. The
potential is amazing, but what about the risks? In the complex
process of establishing a mobile banking business model, many kinds
of risks and factors need to be monitored and well-managed. Risk
identification is the first stage of risk management. Correct risk
identification ensures risk management effectiveness. Keeping the
risks low makes it possible to use the full potential of mobile banking
and carry out the planned business strategy. The focus should be on
adoption of consumers which is the main risk factor of mobile
banking services.
Abstract: Introduction applicability of high-speed cutting stock problem (CSP) is presented in this paper. Due to the orders continued coming in from various on-line ways for a professional cutting company, to stay competitive, such a business has to focus on sustained production at high levels. In others words, operators have to keep the machine running to stay ahead of the pack. Therefore, the continuous stock cutting problem with setup is proposed to minimize the cutting time and pattern changing time to meet the on-line given demand. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to solve the problem directly by using cutting patterns directly. A major advantage of the proposed method in series on-line production is that the system can adjust the cutting plan according to the floating orders. Examples with multiple items are demonstrated. The results show considerable efficiency and reliability in high-speed cutting of CSP.
Abstract: In the globalization context and competitiveness, the role of a university is further enhanced. University is no longer confined to traditional roles. Universities need to interact with others in order to be relevant and progressive. Symbiosis relationships between the university and industry are very significant because the relationship between those two can foster economic development of a nation. In a world of fast changing technology and competition, it is necessary for the university to collaborate with industry to combine efforts fostering the diffusion of knowledge, increasing research and development, patenting innovation and commercializing products. It has become increasingly accepted that the necessity of close university-industry interactions as a mean of national economic prosperity. Therefore, this paper is aim to examine the level of linkages in university-industry interactions to which promotes the regional economic growth and development. This paper will explore the formation of linkages between the Higher Education Institution (University Technology MARA) and industries located in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. It will present the university-industry linkages with emphasis on the type of linkages existed, the benefits of having such linkages to promote regional economic development and finally the constraints that might impede the linkages and potentials to enhance the linkages towards economic growth and development.
Abstract: In this paper, a new reversible watermarking method is presented that reduces the size of a stereoscopic image sequence while keeping its content visible. The proposed technique embeds the residuals of the right frames to the corresponding frames of the left sequence, halving the total capacity. The residual frames may result in after a disparity compensated procedure between the two video streams or by a joint motion and disparity compensation. The residuals are usually lossy compressed before embedding because of the limited embedding capacity of the left frames. The watermarked frames are visible at a high quality and at any instant the stereoscopic video may be recovered by an inverse process. In fact, the left frames may be exactly recovered whereas the right ones are slightly distorted as the residuals are not embedded intact. The employed embedding method reorders the left frame into an array of consecutive pixel pairs and embeds a number of bits according to their intensity difference. In this way, it hides a number of bits in intensity smooth areas and most of the data in textured areas where resulting distortions are less visible. The experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed scheme is quite effective.
Abstract: The efficient operation of any biological treatment
process requires pre-treatment of incompatible pollutants such as
acids, bases, oil, toxic substances, etc. which hamper the treatment
of other major components which are otherwise degradable. The
pre-treatment of alkaline waste-waters, generated from various
industries like textile, paper & pulp, potato-processing industries,
etc., having a pH of 10 or higher, is essential. The pre-treatment,
i.e., neutralization of such alkaline waste-waters can be achieved by
chemical as well as biological means. However, the biological pretreatment
offers better package over the chemical means by being
safe and economical. The biological pre-treatment can be
accomplished by using a blend of microorganisms able to withstand
such harsh alkaline conditions. In the present study, for the proper
pre-treatment of alkaline waste-waters, a package of alkalophilic
bacteria is formulated to neutralise the alkaline pH of the industrial
waste-waters. The developed microbial package is cost-effective as
well as environmental friendly.
Abstract: Existing underground pipe jacking methods use a
reinforcing rod in a steel tube to obtain structural stiffness. However,
some problems such as inconvenience of works and expensive
materials resulted from limited working space and reinforcing works
are existed. To resolve these problems, a new pipe jacking method,
namely PST (Prestressed Segment Tunnel) method, was developed
which used joint to connect the steel segment and form erection
structure. For evaluating the flexural capacity of the PST method
structure, a experimental test was conducted. The parameters
considered in the test were span-to-depth ratio of segment, diameter of
steel tube at the corner, prestressing force, and welding of joint. The
flexural behaviours with the effect of load capacity in serviceability
state according to different parameters were examined.. The frame
with long segments could increase flexural stiffness and the specimen
with large diameter of concave corner showed excellent resistance
ability to the negative moment. In addition, welding of joints increased
the flexural capacity.
Abstract: The reliability of distributed systems and computer
networks have been modeled by a probabilistic network or a graph G.
Computing the residual connectedness reliability (RCR), denoted by
R(G), under the node fault model is very useful, but is an NP-hard
problem. Since it may need exponential time of the network size to
compute the exact value of R(G), it is important to calculate its tight
approximate value, especially its lower bound, at a moderate
calculation time. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm for
reliability lower bound of distributed systems with unreliable nodes.
We also applied our algorithm to several typical classes of networks
to evaluate the lower bounds and show the effectiveness of our
algorithm.
Abstract: One of the most important problems to solve is eye
location for a driver fatigue monitoring system. This paper presents an
efficient method to achieve fast and accurate eye location in grey level
images obtained in the real-word driving conditions. The structure of
eye region is used as a robust cue to find possible eye pairs. Candidates
of eye pair at different scales are selected by finding regions which
roughly match with the binary eye pair template. To obtain real one,
all the eye pair candidates are then verified by using support vector
machines. Finally, eyes are precisely located by using binary vertical
projection and eye classifier in eye pair images. The proposed method
is robust to deal with illumination changes, moderate rotations, glasses
wearing and different eye states. Experimental results demonstrate its
effectiveness.
Abstract: Erwinia carotovora var. carotovora is the main cause of soft rot in potatoes. Hyphaene thebaica was studied for biocontrol of E. carotovora which inhibited growth of E. carotovora on solid medium, a comparative study of classical and ultrasound-assisted extractions of Hyphaene thebaica fruit. The use of ultrasound decreased significant the total time of treatment and increase the total amount of crude extract. The crude extract was subjected to determine the in vitro, by a bioassay technique revealed that the treatment of paper disks with ultrasound extraction of Hyphaene thebaica reduced the growth of pathogen and produced inhibition zones up to 38mm in diameter. The antioxidant activity of ultrasound-ethanolic extract of Doum fruits (Hyphaene thebaica) was determined. Data obtained showed that the extract contains the secondary metabolites such as Tannins, Saponin, Flavonoids, Phenols, Steroids, Terpenoids, Glycosides and Alkaloids.
Abstract: The study site was located in Ratchaburi Province,
Thailand. Four experimental plots in dry dipterocarp forest (DDF)
and four plots in mixed deciduous forest (MDF) were set up to
estimate the above-ground biomass of tree, sapling and bamboo. The
allometry equations were used to investigate above-ground biomass
of these vegetation. Seedling and other understory were determined
using direct harvesting method. Carbon storage in above-ground
biomass was calculated based on IPCC 2006.
The results showed that the above-ground biomass of DDF at
20-40% slope,
Abstract: The progress of concentrations of particular heavy metals was assessed in chosen localities in region Moravia, the Czech Republic, from 2007 to 2009. Particular metals were observed in localities with various types and characterization of zone. Pb, Ni, As and Cd were emphasized as a result of their toxicity and potential adverse health effect to the exposed population. The progress of metal concentrations and their health effects in the most polluted localities were examined. According to the results, the air pollution limit values were not exceeded. Based on the health risk assessment, the probability of developing tumorous diseases is acceptable, except for the increased probability of cancer risk from long-term exposure to As.
Abstract: This paper deals with behavior and capacity of
punching shear force for flat slabs produced from steel fiber
reinforced self compacting concrete (SFRSCC) by application
nonlinear finite element method. Nonlinear finite element analysis on
nine slab specimens was achieved by using ANSYS software. A
general description of the finite element method, theoretical modeling
of concrete and reinforcement are presented. The nonlinear finite
element analysis program ANSYS is utilized owing to its capabilities
to predict either the response of reinforced concrete slabs in the post
elastic range or the ultimate strength of a flat slabs produced from
steel fiber reinforced self compacting concrete (SFRSCC). In order to
verify the analytical model used in this research using test results of
the experimental data, the finite element analysis were performed
then a parametric study of the effect ratio of flexural reinforcement,
ratio of the upper reinforcement, and volume fraction of steel fibers
were investigated. A comparison between the experimental results
and those predicted by the existing models are presented. Results and
conclusions may be useful for designers, have been raised, and
represented.
Abstract: A preconditioned Jacobi (PJ) method is provided for solving fuzzy linear systems whose coefficient matrices are crisp Mmatrices and the right-hand side columns are arbitrary fuzzy number vectors. The iterative algorithm is given for the preconditioned Jacobi method. The convergence is analyzed with convergence theorems. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the procedure and show the effectiveness and efficiency of the method.
Abstract: The interaction among information and communication technology (ICT) industries is a recently ubiquitous phenomenon through fixed-mobile integration. To monitor the impact of interaction, previous research has mainly focused on measuring spillover effect among ICT industries using various methods. Among others, inter-industry analysis is one of the useful methods for examining spillover effect between industries. However, more complex ICT industries become, more important the impact within an industry is. Inter-industry analysis is limited in mirroring intra-relationships within an industry. Thus, this study applies the analytic network process (ANP) to measure the spillover effect, capturing all of the intra and inter-relationships. Using ANP-based intra and inter-industry analysis, the spillover effect is effectively measured, mirroring the complex structure of ICT industries. A main ICT industry and its linkages are also explored to show the current structure of ICT industries. The proposed approach is expected to allow policy makers to understand interactions of ICT industries and their impact.
Abstract: This paper reports on the results of experimental investigations on the performance of a jet pump operated under selected primary flows to optimize the related parameters. For this purpose a two-phase flow jet pump was used employing various profiles of nozzles as the primary device which was designed, fabricated and used along with the combination of mixing tube and diffuser. The profiles employed were circular, conical, and elliptical. The diameter of the nozzle used was 4 mm. The area ratio of the jet pump was 0.16. The test facility created for this purpose was an open loop continuous circulation system. Performance of the jet pump was obtained as iso-efficiency curves on characteristic curves drawn for various water flow rates. To perform the suction capability, evacuation test was conducted at best efficiency point for all the profiles.
Abstract: Application of synthetic antioxidants such as tertbutylhydroquinon
(TBHQ), in spite of their efficiency, is questioned
because of their possible carcinogenic effect. The purpose of this
study was application of mixtures of natural antioxidants that provide
the best oxidative stability for margarine. Antioxidant treatments
included 10 various mixtures (F1- F10) containing 100-500ppm
tocopherol mixture (Toc), 100-200ppm ascorbyl palmitate (AP), 100-
200ppm rosemary extract (Ros) and 1000ppm lecithin(Lec) along
with a control or F0 (with no antioxidant) and F11 with 120ppm
TBHQ. The effect of antioxidant mixtures on the stability of
margarine samples during oven test (60°C), rancimat test at 110°C
and storage at 4°C was evaluated. Final ranking of natural antioxidant
mixtures was as follows: F2,F10>F5,F9>F8>F1,F3,F4>F6, F7.
Considering the results of this research and ranking criteria,
F2(200ppmAp + 200ppmRos) and F10(200ppmRos + 200ppmToc
+1000ppmLec) were recommended as substitutes for TBHQ to
maintain the quality and increase the shelf-life of margarine.
Abstract: Graph decompositions are vital in the study of
combinatorial design theory. A decomposition of a graph G is a
partition of its edge set. An n-sun graph is a cycle Cn with an edge
terminating in a vertex of degree one attached to each vertex. In this
paper, we define n-sun decomposition of some even order graphs
with a perfect matching. We have proved that the complete graph
K2n, complete bipartite graph K2n, 2n and the Harary graph H4, 2n have
n-sun decompositions. A labeling scheme is used to construct the n-suns.
Abstract: Multilevel inverters supplied from equal and constant
dc sources almost don-t exist in practical applications. The variation
of the dc sources affects the values of the switching angles required
for each specific harmonic profile, as well as increases the difficulty
of the harmonic elimination-s equations. This paper presents an
extremely fast optimal solution of harmonic elimination of multilevel
inverters with non-equal dc sources using Tanaka's fuzzy linear
regression formulation. A set of mathematical equations describing
the general output waveform of the multilevel inverter with nonequal
dc sources is formulated. Fuzzy linear regression is then
employed to compute the optimal solution set of switching angles.
Abstract: Over the past few years, XML (eXtensible Mark-up
Language) has emerged as the standard for information
representation and data exchange over the Internet. This paper
provides a kick-start for new researches venturing in XML databases
field. We survey the storage representation for XML document,
review the XML query processing and optimization techniques with
respect to the particular storage instance. Various optimization
technologies have been developed to solve the query retrieval and
updating problems. Towards the later year, most researchers
proposed hybrid optimization techniques. Hybrid system opens the
possibility of covering each technology-s weakness by its strengths.
This paper reviews the advantages and limitations of optimization
techniques.
Abstract: This paper present a new way to find the aerodynamic
characteristic equation of missile for the numerical trajectories
prediction more accurate. The goal is to obtain the polynomial
equation based on two missile characteristic parameters, angle of
attack (α ) and flight speed (ν ). First, the understudied missile is
modeled and used for flow computational model to compute
aerodynamic force and moment. Assume that performance range of
understudied missile where range -10< α