Abstract: The aim of this research is to design a collaborative
framework that integrates risk analysis activities into the geospatial
database design (GDD) process. Risk analysis is rarely undertaken
iteratively as part of the present GDD methods in conformance to
requirement engineering (RE) guidelines and risk standards.
Accordingly, when risk analysis is performed during the GDD, some
foreseeable risks may be overlooked and not reach the output
specifications especially when user intentions are not systematically
collected. This may lead to ill-defined requirements and ultimately in
higher risks of geospatial data misuse. The adopted approach consists
of 1) reviewing risk analysis process within the scope of RE and
GDD, 2) analyzing the challenges of risk analysis within the context
of GDD, and 3) presenting the components of a risk-based
collaborative framework that improves the collection of the
intended/forbidden usages of the data and helps geo-IT experts to
discover implicit requirements and risks.
Abstract: Amongst the consistently fluctuating conditions
prevailing today, changeability represents a strategic key factor for a
manufacturing company to achieve success on the international
markets. In order to cope with turbulences and the increasing level of
incalculability, not only the flexible design of production systems but
in particular the employee as enabler of change provide the focus
here. It is important to enable employees from manufacturing
companies to participate actively in change events and in change
decisions. To this end, the learning factory has been created, which is
intended to serve the development of change-promoting competences
and the sensitization of employees for the necessity of changes.
Abstract: A computer model of Quantum Theory (QT) has been
developed by the author. Major goal of the computer model was
support and demonstration of an as large as possible scope of QT.
This includes simulations for the major QT (Gedanken-) experiments
such as, for example, the famous double-slit experiment.
Besides the anticipated difficulties with (1) transforming exacting
mathematics into a computer program, two further types of problems
showed up, namely (2) areas where QT provides a complete mathematical
formalism, but when it comes to concrete applications the
equations are not solvable at all, or only with extremely high effort;
(3) QT rules which are formulated in natural language and which do
not seem to be translatable to precise mathematical expressions, nor
to a computer program.
The paper lists problems in all three categories and describes also
the possible solutions or circumventions developed for the computer
model.
Abstract: This paper analysed the food security situation among
Nigerian rural farmers. Data collected on 202 rural farmers from
Benue State were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
The study revealed that majority of the respondents (60.83%) had
medium dietary diversity. Furthermore, household daily calorie
requirement for the food secure households was 10,723 and the
household daily calorie consumption was 12,598, with a surplus
index of 0.04. The food security index was 1.16. The Household
daily per capita calorie consumption was 3,221.2. For the food
insecure households, the household daily calorie requirement was
20,213 and the household daily calorie consumption was 17,393. The
shortfall index was 0.14. The food security index was 0.88. The
Household daily per capita calorie consumption was 2,432.8. The
most commonly used coping strategies during food stress included
intercropping (99.2%), reliance on less preferred food (98.1%),
limiting portion size at meal times (85.8%) and crop diversification
(70.8%).
Abstract: The mechanical and tribological properties in WC-Co
coatings are strongly affected by hardness and elasticity
specifications. The results revealed the effect of spraying distance on
microhardness and elasticity modulus of coatings. The metallurgical
studies have been made on coated samples using optical microscopy,
scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Abstract: In this paper, the effects of thermodynamic,
hydrodynamic and geometric of an air cooled condenser on COP of
vapor compression cycle are investigated for a fixed condenser facing
surface area. The system is utilized with a scroll compressor,
modeled based on thermodynamic and heat transfer equations
employing Matlab software. The working refrigerant is R134a whose
thermodynamic properties are called from Engineering Equation
Software. This simulation shows that vapor compression cycle can
be designed by different configurations and COPs, economical and
optimum working condition can be obtained via considering these
parameters.
Abstract: This paper presents the findings of an
experimental investigation to study the effect of alkali content
in geopolymer mortar specimens exposed to sulphuric acid.
Geopolymer mortar specimens were manufactured from Class F fly
ash by activation with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium
silicate solution containing 5% to 8% Na2O. Durability of specimens
were assessed by immersing them in 10% sulphuric acid solution and
periodically monitoring surface deterioration and depth of
dealkalization, changes in weight and residual compressive strength
over a period of 24 weeks. Microstructural changes in the specimens
were studied with Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and EDAX.
Alkali content in the activator solution significantly affects the
durability of fly ash based geopolymer mortars in sulphuric acid.
Specimens manufactured with higher alkali content performed better
than those manufactured with lower alkali content. After 24 weeks in
sulphuric acid, specimen with 8% alkali still recorded a residual
strength as high as 55%.
Abstract: Information technology managers nowadays are
facing with tremendous pressure to plan, implement, and adopt new
technology solution due to the rapidity of technology changes.
Resulted from a lack of study that have been done in this topic, the
aim of this paper is to provide a comparison review on current tools
that are currently being used in order to respond to technological
changes. The study is based on extensive literature review of
published works with majority of them are ranging from 2000 to the
first part of 2011. The works were gathered from journals, books,
and other information sources available on the Web. Findings show
that, each tools has different focus and none of the tools are
providing a framework in holistic view, which should include
technical, people, process, and business environment aspect. Hence,
this result provides potential information about current available
tools that IT managers could use to manage changes in technology.
Further, the result reveals a research gap in the area where the
industries a short of such framework.
Abstract: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a new worldwide public
health problem. A diagnosis of this disease using creatinine is still a
problem in clinical practice. Therefore, a measurement of biomarkers
responsible for AKI has received much attention in the past couple
years. Cytokine interleukin-18 (IL-18) was reported as one of the
early biomarkers for AKI. The most commonly used method to
detect this biomarker is an immunoassay. This study used a planar
platform to perform an immunoassay using fluorescence for
detection. In this study, anti-IL-18 antibody was immobilized onto a
microscope slide using a covalent binding method. Make-up samples
were diluted at the concentration between 10 to 1000 pg/ml to create
a calibration curve. The precision of the system was determined
using a coefficient of variability (CV), which was found to be less
than 10%. The performance of this immunoassay system was
compared with the measurement from ELISA.
Abstract: The zinc and iron environments in different growth
stages have been studied with EXAFS and XANES with Brookhaven
Synchrotron Light Source. Tissue samples included meat, organ,
vegetable, leaf, and yeast. The project studied the EXAFS and
XANES of tissue samples using Zn and Fe K-edges. Duck embryo
samples show that brain and intestine would contain shorter EXFAS
determined Zn-N/O bond; as with the cases of fresh yeast versus
reconstituted live yeast and green leaf versus yellow leaf. The
XANES Fourier transform characteristic-length would be useful as a
functionality index for selected types of tissue samples in various
physical states. The extension to the development of functional
synchrotron imaging for tissue engineering application based on
spectroscopic technique is discussed.
Abstract: Cell phone forensics to acquire and analyze data in the
cellular phone is nowadays being used in a national investigation
organization and a private company. In order to collect cellular phone
flash memory data, we have two methods. Firstly, it is a logical
method which acquires files and directories from the file system of the
cell phone flash memory. Secondly, we can get all data from bit-by-bit
copy of entire physical memory using a low level access method. In
this paper, we describe a forensic tool to acquire cell phone flash
memory data using a logical level approach. By our tool, we can get
EFS file system and peek memory data with an arbitrary region from
Korea CDMA cell phone.
Abstract: Antimosy-doped tin oxide (ATO) particles were
prepared via chemical coprecipitation and reverse emulsion. The size
and size distribution of ATO particles were obviously decreased via
reverse microemulsion method. At the relatively high yield the ATO
particles were nearly spherical in shape, meanwhile the crystalline
structure and excellent conductivity were reserved, which could satisfy
the requirement as composite fillers, such as dielectric filler of
polyimide film.
Abstract: Recently electric vehicles are becoming popular as an
alternative of conventional fossil fuel vehicles. Conventional Internal
Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle uses fossil fuel which contributing
a major part of overall carbon emission in the environment. Carbon
and other green house gas emission are responsible for global
warming and resulting climate change. It becomes vital to evaluate
performance of vehicle based on emission. In this paper an effort has
been made to depict the picture of emission caused by vehicle and
scenario of Australia has taken into account. Effort has been made to
compare the fossil based vehicle with electric vehicle in phases. The
study also evaluates advancement in electric vehicle technology,
required infrastructure for sustainability and future scope of
developments. This paper also includes the evaluation of electric
vehicle concept for pollution control and sustainable transport
systems in future. This study can be a benchmark for development of
electric vehicle as low carbon emission alternative for the cities of
tomorrow.
Abstract: A simple and dexterous in situ method was introduced to load CdS nanocrystals into organofunctionalized mesoporous, which used an ion-exchange method. The products were extensively characterized by combined spectroscopic methods. X- ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) demonstrated both the maintenance of pore symmetry (space group p6mm) of SBA-15 and the presence of CdS nanocrystals with uniform sizes of about 6 - 8 nm inside the functionalized SBA-15 channels. These mesoporous silica-supported CdS composites showed room temperature photoluminescence properties with a blue shift, indicating the quantum size effect of nanocrystalline CdS.
Abstract: Tea is consumed by a big part of the world-s
population. It has an enormous importance for the Turkish culture.
Nearly it is brewed every morning and evening at the all houses. Also it is consumed with lemon wedge. Habitual drinking of tea
infusions may significantly contribute to daily dietary requirements of elements.
Different instrumental techniques are used for determination of
these elements. But atomic and mass spectroscopic methods are preferred most. In these study chromium, iron and selenium contents
after the hot water brewing of black and green tea were determined
by Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Furthermore, effect
of lemon addition on chromium, iron and selenium concentration tea
infusions is investigated.
Results of the investigation showed that concentration of
chromium, iron and selenium increased in black tea with lemon addition. On the other hand only selenium is increased with lemon
addition in green tea. And iron concentration is not detected in green
tea but its concentration is determined as 1.420 ppm after lemon addition.
Abstract: Topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) with
5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is an alternative therapy for treating
superficial cancer, especially for skin or oral cancer. ALA, a precursor
of the photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), is present as
zwitterions and hydrophilic property which make the low permeability
through the cell membrane. Collagen is a traditional carrier; its
molecular composed various amino acids which bear positive charge
and negative charge. In order to utilize the ion-pairs with ALA and
collagen, the study employed various pH values adjusting the net
charge. The aim of this study was to compare a series collagen form,
including solution, gel and sponge to investigate the topical delivery
behavior of ALA. The in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy
(CLSM) study demonstrated that PpIX generation ability was different
pattern after apply for 6 h. Gel type could generate high PpIX, and
archived more deep of skin depth.
Abstract: Since the 1980s, banks and financial service institutions have been running in an endless race of innovation to cope with the advancing technology, the fierce competition, and the more sophisticated and demanding customers. In order to guide their innovation efforts, several researches were conducted to identify the success and failure factors of new financial services. These mainly included organizational factors, marketplace factors and new service development process factors. They almost all emphasized the importance of customer and market orientation as a response to the highly perceptual and intangible characteristics of financial services. However, they deemphasized the critical characteristics of high involvement of risk and close correlation with the economic conditions, a factor that heavily contributed to the Global financial Crisis of 2008. This paper reviews the success and failure factors of new financial services. It then adds new perspectives emerging from the analysis of the role of innovation in the global financial crisis.
Abstract: Analysis of the elastic scattering of protons on 6,7Li
nuclei has been done in the framework of the optical model at the
beam energies up to 50 MeV. Differential cross sections for the 6,7Li +
p scattering were measured over the proton laboratory–energy range
from 400 to 1050 keV. The elastic scattering of 6,7Li+p data at
different proton incident energies have been analyzed using singlefolding
model. In each case the real potential obtained from the
folding model was supplemented by a phenomenological imaginary
potential, and during the fitting process the real potential was
normalized and the imaginary potential optimized. Normalization
factor NR is calculated in the range between 0.70 and 0.84.
Abstract: Herein, we report the different types of surface morphology due to the interaction between the pure protein Insulin (INS) and catanionic surfactant mixture of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) and Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) at air/water interface obtained by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. We characterized the aggregations by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in LB films. We found that the INS adsorption increased in presence of catanionic surfactant at air/water interface. The presence of small amount of surfactant induces two-stage growth kinetics due to the pure protein absorption and protein-catanionic surface micelle interaction. The protein remains in native state in presence of small amount of surfactant mixture. Smaller amount of surfactant mixture with INS is producing surface micelle type structure. This may be considered for drug delivery system. On the other hand, INS becomes unfolded and fibrillated in presence of higher amount of surfactant mixture. In both the cases, the protein was successfully immobilized on a glass substrate by the LB technique. These results may find applications in the fundamental science of the physical chemistry of surfactant systems, as well as in the preparation of drug-delivery system.
Abstract: There are many kinds of metal borates found not only
in nature but also synthesized in the laboratory such as magnesium
borates. Due to its excellent properties, as remarkable ceramic
materials, they have also application areas in anti-wear and friction
reducing additives as well as electro-conductive treating agents. The
synthesis of magnesium borate powders can be fulfilled simply with
two different methods, hydrothermal and thermal synthesis.
Microwave assisted method, also another way of producing
magnesium borate, can be classified into thermal synthesis because of
using the principles of solid state synthesis. It also contributes
producing particles with small size and high purity in nano-size
material synthesize. In this study the production of magnesium
borates, are aimed using MgCl2.6H2O and H3BO3. The identification
of both starting materials and products were made by the equipments
of, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectroscopy (FT-IR). After several synthesis steps magnesium
borates were synthesized and characterized by XRD and FT-IR, as
well.