Abstract: Successful intelligence (SI) is the integrated set of the
ability needed to attain success in life, within individual-s sociocultural
context. People are successfully intelligent by recognizing
their strengths and weaknesses. They will find ways to strengthen
their weakness and maintain their strength or even improve it. SI
people can shape, select, and adapt to the environments by using
balance of higher-ordered thinking abilities including; critical,
creative, and applicative. Aims: The purposes of this study were to;
1) develop curriculum that promotes SI for nursing students, and 2)
study the effectiveness of the curriculum development. Method:
Research and Development was a method used for this study. The
design was divided into two phases; 1) the curriculum development
which composed of three steps (needs assessment, curriculum
development and curriculum field trail), and 2) the curriculum
implementation. In this phase, a pre-experimental research design
(one group pretest-posttest design) was conducted. The sample
composed of 49 sophomore nursing students of Boromarajonani
College of Nursing, Surin, Thailand who enrolled in Nursing care of
Health problem course I in 2011 academic year. Data were carefully
collected using 4 instruments; 1) Modified essay questions test
(MEQ) 2) Nursing Care Plan evaluation form 3) Group processing
observation form (α = 0.74) and 4) Satisfied evaluation form of
learning (α = 0.82). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics
and content analysis. Results: The results revealed that the sample
had post-test average score of SI higher than pre-test average score
(mean difference was 5.03, S.D. = 2.84). Fifty seven percentages of
the sample passed the MEQ posttest at the criteria of 60 percentages.
Students demonstrated the strategies of how to develop nursing care
plan. Overall, students- satisfaction on teaching performance was at
high level (mean = 4.35, S.D. = 0.46). Conclusion: This curriculum
can promote the attribute of characteristic of SI person and was
highly required to be continued.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel algorithm based on Ridgelet
Transform and support vector machine is proposed for human action
recognition. The Ridgelet transform is a directional multi-resolution
transform and it is more suitable for describing the human action by
performing its directional information to form spatial features
vectors. The dynamic transition between the spatial features is carried
out using both the Principal Component Analysis and clustering
algorithm K-means. First, the Principal Component Analysis is used
to reduce the dimensionality of the obtained vectors. Then, the kmeans
algorithm is then used to perform the obtained vectors to form
the spatio-temporal pattern, called set-of-labels, according to given
periodicity of human action. Finally, a Support Machine classifier is
used to discriminate between the different human actions. Different
tests are conducted on popular Datasets, such as Weizmann and
KTH. The obtained results show that the proposed method provides
more significant accuracy rate and it drives more robustness in very
challenging situations such as lighting changes, scaling and dynamic
environment
Abstract: Information of nodes’ locations is an important
criterion for lots of applications in Wireless Sensor Networks. In the
hop-based range-free localization methods, anchors transmit the
localization messages counting a hop count value to the whole
network. Each node receives this message and calculates its own
distance with anchor in hops and then approximates its own position.
However the estimative distances can provoke large error, and affect
the localization precision. To solve the problem, this paper proposes
an algorithm, which makes the unknown nodes fix the nearest anchor
as a reference and select two other anchors which are the most
accurate to achieve the estimated location. Compared to the DV-Hop
algorithm, experiment results illustrate that proposed algorithm has
less average localization error and is more effective.
Abstract: This paper presents modern vibration signalprocessing
techniques for vehicle gearbox fault diagnosis, via the
wavelet analysis and the Squared Envelope (SE) technique. The
wavelet analysis is regarded as a powerful tool for the detection of
sudden changes in non-stationary signals. The Squared Envelope
(SE) technique has been extensively used for rolling bearing
diagnostics. In the present work a scheme of using the Squared
Envelope technique for early detection of gear tooth pit. The pitting
defect is manufactured on the tooth side of a fifth speed gear on the
intermediate shaft of a vehicle gearbox. The objective is to
supplement the current techniques of gearbox fault diagnosis based
on using the raw vibration and ordered signals. The test stand is
equipped with three dynamometers; the input dynamometer serves as
the internal combustion engine, the output dynamometers introduce
the load on the flanges of output joint shafts. The gearbox used for
experimental measurements is the type most commonly used in
modern small to mid-sized passenger cars with transversely mounted
powertrain and front wheel drive; a five-speed gearbox with final
drive gear and front wheel differential. The results show that the
approaches methods are effective for detecting and diagnosing
localized gear faults in early stage under different operation
conditions, and are more sensitive and robust than current gear
diagnostic techniques.
Abstract: In this paper the authors propose a flexible electronic solution, to improve the energetic efficiency of a thermo plant. This is achieved by replacing the mechanical gear box, placed traditionally between a gas turbine and a synchronous generator; by a power electronic converter. After reminding problematic of gear boxes and interest of a proposed electronic solution in high power plants, the authors describe a new control strategy for an indirect frequency converter, which is characterized by its high efficiency due to the use of SWM: Square Wave Modulation. The main advantage of this mode is the quasi absence of switching losses. A control method is also proposed to resolve some problems incurred by using square wave modulation, in particular to reduce the harmonics distortion of the output inverter voltage and current. Simulation examples as well as experimental results are included.
Abstract: The rapid improvement of the microprocessor and network has made it possible for the PC cluster to compete with conventional supercomputers. Lots of high throughput type of applications can be satisfied by using the current desktop PCs, especially for those in PC classrooms, and leave the supercomputers for the demands from large scale high performance parallel computations. This paper presents our development on enabling an automated deployment mechanism for cluster computing to utilize the computing power of PCs such as reside in PC classroom. After well deployment, these PCs can be transformed into a pre-configured cluster computing resource immediately without touching the existing education/training environment installed on these PCs. Thus, the training activities will not be affected by this additional activity to harvest idle computing cycles. The time and manpower required to build and manage a computing platform in geographically distributed PC classrooms also can be reduced by this development.
Abstract: Experimental study on the influence of fibre content
on crack behaviour and propagation in synthetic-fibre reinforced
beams has been reported in this paper. The tensile behaviour of
metallic fibre concrete is evaluated in terms of residual flexural
tensile strength values determined from the load-crack mouth
opening displacement curve or load-deflection curve obtained by
applying a centre-point load on a simply supported notched prism.
The results achieved demonstrate that an increase in fibre content has
an almost negligible effect on compressive and tensile splitting
properties, causes a marginal increment in flexural tensile strength
and increasesthe Re3 value.
Abstract: The vast amount of information hidden in huge
databases has created tremendous interests in the field of data
mining. This paper examines the possibility of using data clustering
techniques in oral medicine to identify functional relationships
between different attributes and classification of similar patient
examinations. Commonly used data clustering algorithms have been
reviewed and as a result several interesting results have been
gathered.
Abstract: The Malaysian government is promoting
entrepreneurship development skills amongst farmers through informal
courses. These courses will concentrate on teaching managerial skills as
inevitable means for small farms to succeed by making farmers more
creative and innovative. Therefore it is important to assess the effect of
informal agri-entrepreneurial training in developing entrepreneurship
among the farmers in Malaysia. Seven hundred and ninety six farmers
(796) farmers were interviewed via structured questionnaire to define
their opinion on whether the current informal educational and training
establishments are sufficient to teach and develop entrepreneurial
skills. Factor analysis and logic regression analysis were used to
determine the motivating factors and predict their impact on the
development of entrepreneurial skills. The result from the factor analysis
led us to investigate the association between these factors and farmers-
opinions about the development of entrepreneurial skills and traits
through participating in informal entrepreneurship training or education.
The outcome has shown us that the importance of informal training to
promote entrepreneurship among farmers is crucial. The training should
be intensified to encourage farmers to not only focus on the modern
technologies but also on the fundamental changes in their attitude towards
agriculture as a business.
DOA:
KMO: Kaiser- Meyer- Olkin Test
MOA: Ministry of Agriculture
NMP: Ninth Malaysia Plan
NAP: Third National Agricultural Policy (2000-2010)
Abstract: Adjacent Hall microsensors, comprising a silicon
substrate and four contacts, providing simultaneously two supply inputs and two differential outputs, are characterized. The voltage
related sensitivity is in the order of 0.11T-1, and a cancellation method for offset compensation is used, achieving residual offset in
the micro scale which is also compared to a single Hall plate.
Abstract: The Baltic States regained independence and started
the pathway from command economy to market economy and
entered European Union at the same time. Latter internationally
recognized evaluations for the countries are diverse. The present
diversity of the Baltic States -Economic Development is a subject of
interest because of the similarities – all three are small, open
economies, countries have similar geographic location and initially
likewise historical and political backgrounds. This article explains
relationship between social environment, business environment and
economic growth. It argues that the elements of social environment
underlie more successful economic development. It researches the
causes, why Estonia has performed better in economic outcomes and
development. The article analyses selection of socio-economic
indicators of all three Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
for the time period of ten years to include the influence of economic
cycles.
Abstract: This study assessed the productivity and performance of the barangays in the Heritage City of Vigan in terms of the barangays- resource requirements, management of resources, produced goods and services, and outcomes of service delivery. The descriptive research design was used in the study employing the input-process-output-outcomes model. Findings of this study showed that the barangays were strong in terms of resource requirements which enabled them to produce goods and services. The barangays were also strong in terms of management of resources in development planning. They also showed great potential along fiscal administration, and had a moderately high capability in organization and management. However, the barangays appeared to be most wanting in the area of barangay legislation, but they were strong in community mobilization and they had strong linkages with POs, NGOs and educational institutions. In the delivery of social services, the barangays favored the maintenance of day care centers. However, the barangays seem to be weak in the delivery of economic services. They fared well along providing protective services such as in establishing a Barangay Disaster Coordinating Council and organizing a group of Barangay Tanod. In terms of environmental services, the barangays performed garbage collection and disposal; however, garbage still found their way in the streets in some barangays. The services delivered had effected an improved status of the barangays. However, the barangays are still facing some problems.
Abstract: Recently, the issue of machine condition monitoring
and fault diagnosis as a part of maintenance system became global
due to the potential advantages to be gained from reduced
maintenance costs, improved productivity and increased machine
availability. The aim of this work is to investigate the effectiveness
of a new fault diagnosis method based on power spectral density
(PSD) of vibration signals in combination with decision trees and
fuzzy inference system (FIS). To this end, a series of studies was
conducted on an external gear hydraulic pump. After a test under
normal condition, a number of different machine defect conditions
were introduced for three working levels of pump speed (1000, 1500,
and 2000 rpm), corresponding to (i) Journal-bearing with inner face
wear (BIFW), (ii) Gear with tooth face wear (GTFW), and (iii)
Journal-bearing with inner face wear plus Gear with tooth face wear
(B&GW). The features of PSD values of vibration signal were
extracted using descriptive statistical parameters. J48 algorithm is
used as a feature selection procedure to select pertinent features from
data set. The output of J48 algorithm was employed to produce the
crisp if-then rule and membership function sets. The structure of FIS
classifier was then defined based on the crisp sets. In order to
evaluate the proposed PSD-J48-FIS model, the data sets obtained
from vibration signals of the pump were used. Results showed that
the total classification accuracy for 1000, 1500, and 2000 rpm
conditions were 96.42%, 100%, and 96.42% respectively. The results
indicate that the combined PSD-J48-FIS model has the potential for
fault diagnosis of hydraulic pumps.
Abstract: Silicon nanowire (SiNW) based thermoelectric device (TED) has potential applications in areas such as chip level cooling/ energy harvesting. It is a great challenge however, to assemble an efficient device with these SiNW. The presence of parasitic in the form of interfacial electrical resistance will have a significant impact on the performance of the TED. In this work, we explore the effect of the electrical contact resistance on the performance of a TED. Numerical simulations are performed on SiNW to investigate such effects on its cooling performance. Intrinsically, SiNW individually without the unwanted parasitic effect has excellent cooling power density. However, the cooling effect is undermined with the contribution of the electrical contact resistance.
Abstract: This paper discusses the Urdu script characteristics,
Urdu Nastaleeq and a simple but a novel and robust technique to
recognize the printed Urdu script without a lexicon. Urdu being a
family of Arabic script is cursive and complex script in its nature, the
main complexity of Urdu compound/connected text is not its
connections but the forms/shapes the characters change when it is
placed at initial, middle or at the end of a word. The characters
recognition technique presented here is using the inherited
complexity of Urdu script to solve the problem. A word is scanned
and analyzed for the level of its complexity, the point where the level
of complexity changes is marked for a character, segmented and
feeded to Neural Networks. A prototype of the system has been
tested on Urdu text and currently achieves 93.4% accuracy on the
average.
Abstract: A study was conducted to formally characterize
notebook computer performance under various environmental and
usage conditions. Software was developed to collect data from the
operating system of the computer. An experiment was conducted to
evaluate the performance parameters- variations, trends, and
correlations, as well as the extreme value they can attain in various
usage and environmental conditions. An automated software script
was written to simulate user activity. The variability of each
performance parameter was addressed by establishing the empirical
relationship between performance parameters. These equations were
presented as baseline estimates for performance parameters, which
can be used to detect system deviations from normal operation and
for prognostic assessment. The effect of environmental factors,
including different power sources, ambient temperatures, humidity,
and usage, on performance parameters of notebooks was studied.
Abstract: Reno-pin contact test is a method that is controlled by
DC motor used to characterize electronic chips. This method is used in
electronic and telecommunication devices. A new electric
performance testing system is developed in which the testing method
is controlled by using Piezoelectric Transducer (PZT) instead of DC
motor which reduces vibration and noise. The vertical displacement of
the Reno-pin is very short in the Reno-pin contact testing system. Now
using a flexible guide in the new Reno-pin contact system, the vertical
movement of the Reno-pin is increased many times of the existing
Reno-pin contact testing method using DC motor. Using the present
electric performance testing system with a flexible hinge and PZT
instead of DC motor, manufacturing of electronic chips are able to
characterize chips with low cost and high speed.
Abstract: Analytically the effect of polarization dependent loss on a high speed fiber optic communication link has been investigated. PDL and the signal's incoming state of polarization (SOP) have a significant co-relation between them and their various combinations produces different effects on the system behavior which has been inspected. Pauli's spin operator and PDL parameters are combined together to observe the attenuation effect induced by PDL in a link containing multiple PDL elements. It is found that in the presence of PDL the Q-factor and BER at the receiver undergoes fluctuation causing the system to be unstable and results show that it is mainly due to optical-signal-to-parallel-noise ratio (OSNItpar) that these parameters fluctuate. Generally the Q-factor, BER deteriorates as the value of average PDL in the link increases except for depolarized light for which the system parameters improves when PDL increases.
Abstract: We developed a vision interface immersive projection system, CAVE in virtual rea using hand gesture recognition with computer vis background image was subtracted from current webcam and we convert the color space of the imag Then we mask skin regions using skin color range t a noise reduction operation. We made blobs fro gestures were recognized using these blobs. Using recognition, we could implement an effective bothering devices for CAVE. e framework for an reality research field vision techniques. ent image frame age into HSV space. e threshold and apply from the image and ing our hand gesture e interface without
Abstract: A biocompatible ferrofluid have been prepared by coprecipitation
of FeCl2.4H2O and FeCl3.6H2O under ultrasonic
irradiation and with NaOH as alkaline agent. Cystein was also used
as capping agent in the solution. Magnetic properties of the produced
ferrofluid were then determined by VSM test and magnetite
nanoparticles were characterized by XRD and TEM techniques. The
effect of surfactant to Fe ion weight ratio was also studied during this
project by using two different amount of Dextran. Results showed the
presence of a biocompatible superparamagnetic ferrofluid including
magnetite nanoparticles with particle size ranging under 20 nm. The
increase in the surfactant content results in the narrowing of the size
distribution and reduction of the particle size and more solution
stability.