Abstract: The Quad Tree Decomposition based performance
analysis of compressed image data communication for lossy and
lossless through wireless sensor network is presented. Images have
considerably higher storage requirement than text. While transmitting
a multimedia content there is chance of the packets being dropped
due to noise and interference. At the receiver end the packets that
carry valuable information might be damaged or lost due to noise,
interference and congestion. In order to avoid the valuable
information from being dropped various retransmission schemes have
been proposed. In this proposed scheme QTD is used. QTD is an
image segmentation method that divides the image into homogeneous
areas. In this proposed scheme involves analysis of parameters such
as compression ratio, peak signal to noise ratio, mean square error,
bits per pixel in compressed image and analysis of difficulties during
data packet communication in Wireless Sensor Networks. By
considering the above, this paper is to use the QTD to improve the
compression ratio as well as visual quality and the algorithm in
MATLAB 7.1 and NS2 Simulator software tool.
Abstract: In a highly competitive environment, it becomes more
important to shorten the whole business process while delivering or
even enhancing the business value to the customers and suppliers.
Although the workflow management systems receive much attention
for its capacity to practically support the business process enactment,
the effective workflow modeling method remain still challenging and
the high degree of process complexity makes it more difficult to gain
the short lead time. This paper presents a workflow structuring method
in a holistic way that can reduce the process complexity using
activity-needs and formal concept analysis, which eventually enhances
the key performance such as quality, delivery, and cost in business
process.
Abstract: The exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung
cancer and increases the risk of bladder cancer. Because air pollution
in urban areas is mainly caused by transportation, it is necessary to
evaluate pollutant exhaust emissions from vehicles during their realworld
use. Nevertheless their evaluation and reduction is a key
problem, especially in the cities, that account for more than 50% of
world population.
A particular attention was given to the slope variability along the
streets during each journey performed by the instrumented vehicle.
In this paper we dealt with the problem of describing a
quantitatively approach for the reconstruction of GPS coordinates and
altitude, in the context of correlation study between driving cycles /
emission / geographical location, during an experimental campaign
realized with some instrumented cars.
Finally the slope analysis can be correlated to the emission and
consumption values in a specific road position, and it could be
evaluated its influence on their behaviour.
Abstract: Essential oils are expensive phytochemicals produced
and extracted from specific species belonging to particular families in
the plant kingdom. In the United Arab Emirates country (UAE), is
located in the arid region of the world, nine species, from the
Lamiaceae family, having the capability to produce therapeutic grade
essential oils. These species include; Mentha spicata, Ocimum
forskolei, Salvia macrosiphon, Salvia aegyptiaca, Salvia macilenta,
Salvia spinosa, Teucrium polium, Teucrium stocksianum and Zataria
multiflora. Although, such potential species are indigenous to the
UAE, however, there are almost no studies available to investigate
the chemical composition and the quality of the extracted essential
oils under the UAE climatological conditions. Therefore, great
attention has to be given to such valuable natural resources, through
conducting highly supported research projects, tailored to the UAE
conditions, and investigating different extraction techniques,
including the application of the latest available technologies, such as
superficial fluid CO2. This is crucially needed; in order to accomplish
the greatest possibilities in the medicinal field, specifically in the
discovery of new therapeutic chemotypes, as well as, to achieve the
sustainability of this natural resource in the country.
Abstract: India holds 17.5% of the world’s population but has
only 2% of the total geographical area of the world where 27.35% of
the area is categorized as wasteland due to lack of or less
groundwater. So there is a demand for excessive groundwater for
agricultural and non agricultural activities to balance its growth rate.
With this in mind, an attempt is made to find the groundwater
potential zone in Gomukhi Nadhi sub basin of Vellar River basin,
TamilNadu, India covering an area of 1146.6 Sq.Km consists of 9
blocks from Peddanaickanpalayam to Virudhachalam in the sub
basin. The thematic maps such as Geology, Geomorphology,
Lineament, Landuse and Landcover and Drainage are prepared for
the study area using IRS P6 data. The collateral data includes rainfall,
water level, soil map are collected for analysis and inference. The
digital elevation model (DEM) is generated using Shuttle Radar
Topographic Mission (SRTM) and the slope of the study area is
obtained. ArcGIS 10.1 acts as a powerful spatial analysis tool to find
out the ground water potential zones in the study area by means of
weighted overlay analysis. Each individual parameter of the thematic
maps are ranked and weighted in accordance with their influence to
increase the water level in the ground. The potential zones in the
study area are classified viz., Very Good, Good, Moderate, Poor with
its aerial extent of 15.67, 381.06, 575.38, 174.49 Sq.Km respectively.
Abstract: Pesticides and drugs used in agriculture and veterinary
medicine may end up in aquatic environments and bioaccumulate in
the food chain, thus causing serious problems for fauna and human
health. For determination of the toxic effects of atrazine herbicide on
Caspian kutum, Rutilus frisii kutum larvae, the 96-h LC50 of atrazine
was measured for newly hatched larvae as 18.53 ppm. Toxicity of
atrazine herbicide on Caspian kutum larvae was investigated using
concentrations: 9.25ppm, 4.62 ppm and 2.31 ppm for 7 days.
Comparison of the length, weight and condition factor showed that
no significant differences between atrazine exposed and control
groups. The concentration of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl- in whole
body of larvae in control and atrazine exposure groups were
measured and the results showed that concentrations of all these ions
is higher in atrazine exposure group than control group. It is obvious
from this study that atrazine negatively affects osmoregulation
process and changes ion compositions of the body even at sublethal
concentration and acute exposure but have no effects on growth
parameters of the body.
Abstract: The presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds,
such as bisphenol A (BPA), in the environment can cause serious
health problems. However, there are controversial opinions. This
study investigated the reproductive, metabolic, oxidative and
immunologic-disrupting effects of bisphenol A in male rabbits.
Rabbits were divided into five groups. The first four rabbit groups
were administered oral BPA (1, 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day) for ten
weeks. The fifth group was administered corn oil as the vehicle. BPA
significantly decreased serum testosterone, estradiol and the free
androgen index (FAI) and significantly increased sex hormone
binding globulin (SHBG) compared with the placebo group. The
higher doses of BPA showed a significant decrease in follicular
stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). A
significant increase in blood glucose levels was identified in the BPA
groups. The non-significant difference in insulin levels is a novel
finding. The cumulative testicular toxicity of BPA was clearly
demonstrated by the dose-dependent decrease in absolute testes
weight, primary measures of semen quality and a significant increase
in testicular malonaldehyde (MDA). Moreover, BPA significantly
decreased total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and significantly
increased immunoglobulin G (IgG) at the highest concentration. Our
results suggest that BPA, especially at higher doses, is associated
with many adverse effects on metabolism, oxidative stress, immunity,
sperm quality and markers of androgenic action.
Abstract: Series of laboratory tests were carried out to study the
extent of scour caused by a three-dimensional wall jets exiting from a
square cross-section nozzle and into a non-cohesive sand beds.
Previous observations have indicated that the effect of the tail water
depth was significant for densimetric Froude number greater than ten.
However, the present results indicate that the cut off value could be
lower depending on the value of grain size-to-nozzle width ratio.
Numbers of equations are drawn out for a better scaling of numerous
scour parameters. Also suggested the empirical prediction of scour to
predict the scour centre line profile and plan view of scour profile at
any particular time.
Abstract: This paper discusses about the findings of preliminary
survey on MATLAB software learning among power electronics
students. One of the main focuses of power electronics course is on
DC to DC boost convertors, because boost convertors are generally
used in different industrial and non industrial applications. Population
samples of this study were randomly selected final year bachelor of
electronics and electrical engineering students from University Tun
Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM).As per the results from the survey
questioner analysis, almost eighty percent students are facing
problem and difficulties in Dc to Dc boost convertors experimental
understanding without using MATLAB simulink package. As per
finding of this study it is clear that MATLAB play an effective and
efficient function for better understanding of boost convertors
experimental work among power electronics learners.
Abstract: The bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the best
known of the legumes, and it has a long cultivation tradition in Italy.
The territory of “Subappennino Dauno” (southern Italy) is at around
700 m a.s.l. and is predominantly grown with cereals, olive trees and
grapevines. Ecotypes of white beans to eat dry (such as cannellini
beans) are also grown, which are sought for their palatability, high
digestibility, and ease of cooking. However, these are not easy to find
on the market due to their low production in relatively small areas
and on small family farms that use seeds handed down from
generation to generation. The introduction of these ecotypes in plain
areas of the Puglia region would provide an opportunity to promote
the diffusion of this type of bean. To investigate the adaptability of
these ecotypes in plain environments (Cerignola, in southern Italy) a
comparative trial was carried out between three ‘Monti Dauni’
ecotypes (E1, E2, E3) that are native to mountain areas and the
similar commercial variety, ‘Cannellini’. The data provide useful
information about the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of
these ecotypes when grown in lowland environments. Ecotype E3
provided the greatest bean production (2.34 t ha-1) compared to
‘Cannellini’ (1.28 t ha-1) and the other ecotypes (0.55 and 0.40 t ha-1,
for E1 and E2, respectively), due to its greater plant growth and the
larger size of the seed (and thickness, in particular). Finally, ecotype
E2 provided the greatest protein content (31.2%), although not
significantly different from the commercial cultivar ‘Cannellini’
(32.1%).
Abstract: There are pending discussions over the mapping of
country export potential in order to refocus export strategy of firms
and its evidence-based promotion by the Export Credit Agencies
(ECAs) and other permitted vehicles of governments.
In this paper we develop our version of an applied model that
offers “stepwise” elimination of unattractive markets. We modify and
calibrate the model for the particular features of the Czech Republic
and specific pilot cases where we apply an individual approach to
each sector.
Abstract: The connection between past travel experience and
tourists’ revisit behavioral intentions has not been widely explored
but the existing studies suggest a close relationship between them.
Destination image can equally be construed as having effects on the
attitudes of the tourists at the end of their actual visitation and the
satisfaction of a tourist with his or her travel experiences contributes
to a revisit intention towards a particular destination. With strong
marketing efforts, UAE is not only considered to be successful in
attracting foreign investors, but is becoming the most popular tourism
destination in the Arab region. UAE is seriously developing its
tourism image and taking serious initiatives to attract new or repeat
visitations from the international tourists. This study empirically
investigates the causal relationships between tourism destination
image, tourist satisfaction and revisit intention using UAE as a
contextual study setting. A very clear picture emerged which
provides a host country with potential implications for its tourism
industry practitioners, Department of Tourism and Commerce
Marketing and the travel agencies who act as the intermediaries
between the potential tourists and the hotel operators.
Abstract: The handwriting is a physical demonstration of a
complex cognitive process learnt by man since his childhood. People
with disabilities or suffering from various neurological diseases are
facing so many difficulties resulting from problems located at the
muscle stimuli (EMG) or signals from the brain (EEG) and which
arise at the stage of writing. The handwriting velocity of the same
writer or different writers varies according to different criteria: age,
attitude, mood, writing surface, etc. Therefore, it is interesting to
reconstruct an experimental basis records taking, as primary
reference, the writing speed for different writers which would allow
studying the global system during handwriting process. This paper
deals with a new approach of the handwriting system modeling based
on the velocity criterion through the concepts of artificial neural
networks, precisely the Radial Basis Functions (RBF) neural
networks. The obtained simulation results show a satisfactory
agreement between responses of the developed neural model and the
experimental data for various letters and forms then the efficiency of
the proposed approaches.
Abstract: An investigation into the effect of countersunk depth,
plate thickness, countersunk angle and plate width on the stress
concentration around countersunk hole is carried out with the help of
finite element analysis. The variation of stress concentration with
respect to these parameters is studied for three types of loading viz.
uniformly distributed load, uniformly varying load and functionally
distributed load. The results of the finite element analysis are
interpreted and some conclusions are drawn. The distribution of
stress concentration around countersunk hole in isotropic plates
simply supported at all the edges is found similar and is independent
of loading. The maximum stress concentration also occurs at a
particular point irrespective of the loading conditions.
Abstract: Present study is aimed on the cutting process of circular
cross-section rods where the fracture is used to separate one rod
into two pieces. Incorporating the phenomenological ductile fracture
model into the explicit formulation of finite element method, the
process can be analyzed without the necessity of realizing too many
real experiments which could be expensive in case of repetitive
testing in different conditions. In the present paper, the steel AISI
1045 was examined and the tensile tests of smooth and notched
cylindrical bars were conducted together with biaxial testing of the
notched tube specimens to calibrate material constants of selected
phenomenological ductile fracture models. These were implemented
into the Abaqus/Explicit through user subroutine VUMAT and used
for cutting process simulation. As the calibration process is based
on variables which cannot be obtained directly from experiments,
numerical simulations of fracture tests are inevitable part of the
calibration. Finally, experiments regarding the cutting process were
carried out and predictive capability of selected fracture models is
discussed. Concluding remarks then make the summary of gained
experience both with the calibration and application of particular
ductile fracture criteria.
Abstract: In today’s world, the LED display has been used for
presenting visual information under various circumstances. Such
information is an important intermediary in the human information
processing. Researchers have been investigated diverse factors that
influence this process effectiveness. The letter size is undoubtedly
one major factor that has been tested and recommended by many
standards and guidelines. However, viewing information on the
display from direct perpendicular position is a typical assumption
whereas many actual events are required viewing from the angles.
This current research aims to study the effect of oblique viewing
angle and viewing distance on ability to recognize alphabet, number,
and English word. The total of ten participants was volunteered to our
3 x 4 x 4 within subject study. Independent variables include three
distance levels (2, 6, and 12 m), four oblique angles (0, 45, 60, 75
degree), and four target types (alphabet, number, short word, and
long word). Following the method of constant stimuli our study
suggests that the larger oblique angle, ranging from 0 to 75 degree
from the line of sight, results in significant higher legibility threshold
or larger font size required (p-value < 0.05). Viewing distance factor
also shows to have significant effect on the threshold (p-value
Abstract: One of the most important tasks in the risk
management is the correct determination of probability of default
(PD) of particular financial subjects. In this paper a possibility of
determination of financial institution’s PD according to the creditscoring
models is discussed. The paper is divided into the two parts.
The first part is devoted to the estimation of the three different
models (based on the linear discriminant analysis, logit regression
and probit regression) from the sample of almost three hundred US
commercial banks. Afterwards these models are compared and
verified on the control sample with the view to choose the best one.
The second part of the paper is aimed at the application of the chosen
model on the portfolio of three key Czech banks to estimate their
present financial stability. However, it is not less important to be able
to estimate the evolution of PD in the future. For this reason, the
second task in this paper is to estimate the probability distribution of
the future PD for the Czech banks. So, there are sampled randomly
the values of particular indicators and estimated the PDs’ distribution,
while it’s assumed that the indicators are distributed according to the
multidimensional subordinated Lévy model (Variance Gamma model
and Normal Inverse Gaussian model, particularly). Although the
obtained results show that all banks are relatively healthy, there is
still high chance that “a financial crisis” will occur, at least in terms
of probability. This is indicated by estimation of the various quantiles
in the estimated distributions. Finally, it should be noted that the
applicability of the estimated model (with respect to the used data) is
limited to the recessionary phase of the financial market.
Abstract: One of the biggest challenges facing Theological/
Religious Education in Nigeria is access to quality learning materials.
For instance at the Trinity (Union) Theological College, Umuahia, it
was difficult for lecturers to access suitable and qualitative materials
for instruction especially the ones that would suit the African context
and stimulate a deep rooted interest among the students. Some
textbooks written by foreign authors were readily available in the
School Library, but were lacking in the College bookshops for
students to own copies. Even when the College was able to order
some of the books from abroad, it did not usher in the needed
enthusiasm expected from the students because they were either very
expensive or very difficult to understand during private studies. So it
became necessary to develop contextual materials which were
affordable and understandable, though with little success. The
National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)’s innovation in the
development and sharing of learning resources through its Open
Courseware is a welcome development and of great assistance to
students. Apart from NOUN students who could easily access the
materials, many others from various theological/religious institutes
across the nation have benefited immensely. So, the thesis of this
paper is that the promotion of open educational resources in
theological/religious education in Nigeria would facilitate a better
informed/equipped religious leadership, which would in turn impact
its adherents for a healthier society and national development.
Adopting a narrative and historical approach within the context of
Nigeria’s educational system, the paper discusses: educational
traditions in Nigeria; challenges facing theological/religious
education in Nigeria; and benefits of open educational resources. The
study goes further to making recommendations on how OER could
positively influence theological/religious education in Nigeria. It is
expected that theologians, religious educators, and ODL practitioners
would find this work very useful.
Abstract: In structures, stress concentration is a factor of fatigue
fracture. Basically, the stress concentration is a phenomenon that
should be avoided. However, it is difficult to avoid the stress
concentration. Therefore, relaxation of the stress concentration is
important. The stress concentration arises from notches and circular
holes. There is a relaxation method that a composite patch covers a
notch and a circular hole. This relaxation method is used to repair
aerial wings, but it is not systematized. Composites are more
expensive than single materials. Accordingly, we propose the
relaxation method that a single material patch covers a notch and a
circular hole, and aim to systematize this relaxation method.
We performed FEA (Finite Element Analysis) about an object by
using a three-dimensional FEA model. The object was that a patch
adheres to a plate with a circular hole. And, a uniaxial tensile load acts
on the patched plate with a circular hole. In the three-dimensional FEA
model, it is not easy to model the adhesion layer. Basically, the yield
stress of the adhesive is smaller than that of adherents. Accordingly,
the adhesion layer gets to plastic deformation earlier than the adherents
under the yield load of adherents. Therefore, we propose the
three-dimensional FEA model which is applied a nonlinear elastic
region to the adhesion layer. The nonlinear elastic region was
calculated by a bilinear approximation. We compared the analysis
results with the tensile test results to confirm whether the analysis
model has usefulness. As a result, the analysis results agreed with the
tensile test results. And, we confirmed that the analysis model has
usefulness.
As a result that the three-dimensional FEA model was used to the
analysis, it was confirmed that an out-of-plane deformation occurred
to the patched plate with a circular hole. The out-of-plane deformation
causes stress increase of the patched plate with a circular hole.
Therefore, we investigated that the out-of-plane deformation affects
relaxation of the stress concentration in the plate with a circular hole
on this relaxation method. As a result, it was confirmed that the
out-of-plane deformation inhibits relaxation of the stress concentration
on the plate with a circular hole.
Abstract: Nations are still finding it quite difficult to win mega
sport competitions despite the major contribution of sport to society
in terms of social and economic development, personal health, and in
education. Even though the world of sports has been transformed into
a huge global economy, it is important to note that the first step of
sport is usually its introduction to children at school through physical
education or PE. In other words, nations who do not win mega sport
competitions also suffer from a weak and neglected PE system. This
problem of the neglect of PE systems is the main motivation of this
research aimed at examining the factors affecting the perceived
awareness of physical education teachers on the ICTs that are
adoptable for the teaching and learning of physical education. Two
types of research objectives will materialize this aim: relevant
theories will be identified in relation to the analysis of the perceived
ICT awareness of PE teachers and subsequent models will be
compiled and designed from existing literature; the empirical testing
of such theories and models will also be achieved through the survey
of PE teachers from the Camperdown magisterial district of the
KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The main hypothesis at the
heart of this study is the relationship between the demographics of PE
teachers, their behavior both as individuals and as social entities, and
their perceived awareness of the ICTs that are adoptable for PE, as
postulated by existing literature; except that this study categorizes
human behavior under performance expectancy, computer attitude,
and social influence. This hypothesis was partially confirmed by the
survey conducted by this research in the sense that performance
expectancy and teachers’ age, gender, computer usage, and class size
were found to be the only factors affecting their awareness of ICTs
for physical education.