Abstract: Jordan exerts many efforts to nurture their academically gifted students in special schools since 2001. During
the past nine years of launching these schools, their learning and excellence environments were believed to be distinguished compared
to public schools. This study investigated the environments of gifted
students compared with other non-gifted, using a survey instrument
that measures the dimensions of family, peers, teachers, school- support, society, and resources –dimensions rooted deeply in supporting gifted education, learning, and achievement. A total
number of 109 were selected from excellence schools for
academically gifted students, and 119 non-gifted students were selected from public schools. Around 8.3% of the non-gifted students
reported that they “Never" received any support from their surrounding environments, 14.9% reported “Seldom" support, 23.7% reported “ Often" support, 26.0% reported “Frequent" support, and
32.8% reported “Very frequent" support. Where the gifted students reported more “Never" support than the non-gifted did with 11.3%,
“Seldom" support with 15.4%, “Often" support with 26.6%,
“Frequent" support with 29.0%, and reported “Very frequent" support less than the non-gifted students with 23.6%. Unexpectedly,
statistical differences were found between the two groups favoring
non-gifted students in perception of their surrounding environments
in specific dimensions, namely, school- support, teachers, and society. No statistical differences were found in the other dimensions
of the survey, namely, family, peers, and resources. As the
differences were found in teachers, school- support, and society, the
nurturing environments for the excellence schools need to be revised to adopt more creative teaching styles, rich school atmosphere and
infrastructures, interactive guiding for the students and their parents, promoting for the excellence environments, and re-build successful
identification models. Thus, families, schools, and society should
increase their cooperation, communication, and awareness of the
gifted supportive environments. However, more studies to investigate
other aspects of promoting academic giftedness and excellence are recommended.
Abstract: Space-time block code(STBC) has been studied to get
full diversity and full rate in multiple input multiple output(MIMO)
system. Achieving full rate is difficult in cooperative communications
due to the each user consumes the time slots for transmitting
information in cooperation phase. So combining MIMO systems
with cooperative communications has been researched for full diversity
and full rate. In orthogonal frequency division multiple access
(OFDMA) system, it is an alternative way that each user shares their
allocated subchannels instead of using the MIMO system to improve
the transmission rate. In this paper, a Decode-and-forward (DF)
based cooperative communication scheme is proposed. The proposed
scheme has improved transmission rate and reliability in multi-path
fading channel of the OFDMA up-link condition by modified STBC
structure and subchannel sharing.
Abstract: We presented results of research aimed on findings
influence of social - psychological training (realized with students of
Constantine the Philosopher University- future teachers within their
undergraduate preparation) on the choice of intrapersonal and
interpersonal features. After social- psychological training using
Interpersonal Check List (ICL) we found out shift of behavior to
more adaptive forms in categories, which are characterized by
extroversive friendly behavior, willingness to cooperation,
conformity regard to social situation, responsible and regardful
behavior.
Using State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) we found out the cut
down of state anxiety and of trait anxiety. The report was processed
within grants KEGA 3/5269/07 and VEGA 1/3675/06.
Abstract: The Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives. Witnessing recent web-based mass collaboration, e.g. Wikipedia, people are questioning whether the Internet has made fundamental changes to the society or whether it is merely a hyperbolic fad. It has long been assumed that collective action for a certain goal yields the problem of free-riding, due to its non-exclusive and non-rival characteristics. Then, thanks to recent technological advances, the on-line space experienced the following changes that enabled it to produce public goods: 1) decrease in the cost of production or coordination 2) externality from networked structure 3) production function which integrates both self-interest and altruism. However, this research doubts the homogeneity of on-line mass collaboration and argues that a more sophisticated and systematical approach is required. The alternative that we suggest is to connect the characteristics of the goal to the motivation. Despite various approaches, previous literature fails to recognize that motivation can be structurally restricted by the characteristic of the goal. First we draw a typology of on-line mass collaboration with 'the extent of expected beneficiary' and 'the existence of externality', and then we examine each combination of motivation using Benkler-s framework. Finally, we explore and connect such typology with its possible dominant participating motivation.
Abstract: Recently, majors of doctors are divided into terribly lots of detailed areas. However, it is actually not a rare case that a doctor has a patient who is not in his/her major. He/She must judge an assessment and make a medical treatment plan for this patient. According to our investigation, conventional approaches such as image diagnosis cooperation are insufficient. This paper proposes an 'Assessment / Medical Treatment Plan Consulting System'. We have implemented a pilot system based on our proposition. Its effectiveness is clarified by an evaluation.
Abstract: Airport capacity has always been perceived in the
traditional sense as the number of aircraft operations during a
specified time corresponding to a tolerable level of average delay and
it mostly depends on the airside characteristics, on the fleet mix
variability and on the ATM. The adoption of the Directive
2002/30/EC in the EU countries drives the stakeholders to conceive
airport capacity in a different way though. Airport capacity in this
sense is fundamentally driven by environmental criteria, and since
acoustical externalities represent the most important factors, those are
the ones that could pose a serious threat to the growth of airports and
to aviation market itself in the short-medium term. The importance of
the regional airports in the deregulated market grew fast during the
last decade since they represent spokes for network carriers and a
preferential destination for low-fares carriers. Not only regional
airports have witnessed a fast and unexpected growth in traffic but
also a fast growth in the complaints for the nuisance by the people
living near those airports. In this paper the results of a study
conducted in cooperation with the airport of Bologna G. Marconi are
presented in order to investigate airport acoustical capacity as a defacto
constraint of airport growth.
Abstract: Being creative in an educational environment, such as in the university, has many times been downplayed by bureaucracy, human inadequacy and physical hindrance. These factors control, stifle and subsequently condemn this natural phenomenon which is normally exuded by the tertiary community. If taken in a positive light, creativity has always led to many new discoveries and inventions. These creations are then gradually developed for the university reputation and achievements, in all fields of studies from the sciences to the humanities. This paper attempts to explore, through more than twenty years of observation, issues that stifle the university citizenry – academicians and students- – creativity. It also scrutinizes how enhancement of such creativity can be further supported by bureaucracy simplicity, encouraging and developing human potential and constructing uncompromising physical infrastructure and administrative support. These ideals – all of which can help to promote creativity, increases the productivity of the university community in aspects of teaching, research, publication, innovation and commercialization; be it at national as well as at international arena for the good of human and societal growth and development. This discursive presentation hopes to address another issue on promoting university community creativity through several deliverables which require cooperation from every quarter of the institution so that being creative continues to be promoted for sustainable human capital growth and development of the country, if not, the global community.
Abstract: Cooperative communication scheme can be substituted
for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique when it may
not be able to support multiple antennas due to size, cost or
hardware limitations. In other words, cooperative communication
scheme is an efficient method to achieve spatial diversity without
multiple antennas. For satisfaction of rising QoS, we propose a
reliable cooperative communication scheme with M-QAM based Dual
Carrier Modulation (M-DCM), which can increase diversity gain.
Although our proposed scheme is very simple method, it gives us
frequency and spatial diversity. Simulation result shows our proposed
scheme obtains diversity gain more than the conventional cooperative
communication scheme.
Abstract: Public administration institutions in cooperation with
politicians are not the sole policy decision makers in full meaning
any longer. Meanwhile, a special role, namely steering the decision
making process, could be delegated to them.
Despite the wide scientific discussion on different aspects what
has direct impact on policy creation, there is a lack of holistic
practical managerial advice, which could integrate infrastructure of
policy decision making with intellectual capital and with
interconnection of partnership. The proposed harmonized decision
making model of process, people and partnership entitled by
acronym HM-3P is analyzed as a framework for implementation of
public administration steering role seeking the coherent social
involvement in policy decision making.
Abstract: The paper presents an analysis of linkages and
structures of co-operation and their intensity like the potential for the
establishment of clusters in the Central and Eastern (Pannonian)
Croatian. Starting from the theoretical elaboration of the need for
entrepreneurs to organize through the cluster model and the terms of
their self-actualization, related to the importance of traditional values
in terms of benefits, social capital and assess where the company now
is, in order to prove the need to create their own identity in terms of
clustering. The institutional dimensions of social capital where the
public sector has the best role in creating the social structure of
clusters, and social dimensions of social capital in terms of trust,
cooperation and networking will be analyzed to what extent the trust
and coherency are present between companies in the Brod posavina
and Pozega slavonia County, expressed through the readiness of
inclusion in clusters in the NUTS II region - Central and Eastern
(Pannonian) Croatia, as a homogeneous economic entity, with
emphasis on limiting factors that stand in the way of greater
competitiveness.
Abstract: This paper presents recent work on the improvement
of the robotics vision based control strategy for underwater pipeline
tracking system. The study focuses on developing image processing
algorithms and a fuzzy inference system for the analysis of the
terrain. The main goal is to implement the supervisory fuzzy learning
control technique to reduce the errors on navigation decision due to
the pipeline occlusion problem. The system developed is capable of
interpreting underwater images containing occluded pipeline, seabed
and other unwanted noise. The algorithm proposed in previous work
does not explore the cooperation between fuzzy controllers,
knowledge and learnt data to improve the outputs for underwater
pipeline tracking. Computer simulations and prototype simulations
demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. The system accuracy
level has also been discussed.
Abstract: Electronic Government is one of the special concepts
which has been performed successfully within recent decades.
Electronic government is a digital, wall-free government with a
virtual organization for presenting of online governmental services
and further cooperation in different political/social activities. In order
to have a successful implementation of electronic government
strategy and benefiting from its complete potential and benefits and
generally for establishment and applying of electronic government, it
is necessary to have different infrastructures as the basics of
electronic government with lack of which it is impossible to benefit
from mentioned services. For this purpose, in this paper we have
managed to recognize relevant obstacles for establishment of
electronic government in Iran. All required data for recognition of
obstacles were collected from statistical society of involved
specialists of Ministry of Communications & Information
Technology of Iran and Information Technology Organization of
Tehran Municipality through questionnaire. Then by considering of
five-point Likert scope and μ =3 as the index of relevant factors of
proposed model, we could specify current obstacles against
electronic government in Iran along with some guidelines and
proposal in this regard. According to the results, mentioned obstacles
for applying of electronic government in Iran are as follows:
Technical & technological problems, Legal, judicial & safety
problems, Economic problems and Humanistic Problems.
Abstract: Trust management and Reputation models are
becoming integral part of Internet based applications such as CSCW,
E-commerce and Grid Computing. Also the trust dimension is a
significant social structure and key to social relations within a
collaborative community. Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is
a difficult task in the context of distributed environment (information
across different geographical locations) and multidisciplinary
decisions are involved such as Virtual Organization (VO). To aid
team decision making in VO, Decision Support System and social
network analysis approaches are integrated. In such situations social
learning helps an organization in terms of relationship, team
formation, partner selection etc. In this paper we focus on trust
learning. Trust learning is an important activity in terms of
information exchange, negotiation, collaboration and trust
assessment for cooperation among virtual team members. In this
paper we have proposed a reinforcement learning which enhances the
trust decision making capability of interacting agents during
collaboration in problem solving activity. Trust computational model
with learning that we present is adapted for best alternate selection of
new project in the organization. We verify our model in a multi-agent
simulation where the agents in the community learn to identify
trustworthy members, inconsistent behavior and conflicting behavior
of agents.
Abstract: Green propellants used for satellite-level propulsion
system become attractive in recent years because the non-toxicity and
lower requirements of safety protection. One of the green propellants,
high-concentration hydrogen peroxide H2O2 solution (≥70% w/w,
weight concentration percentage), often known as high-test peroxide
(HTP), is considered because it is ITAR-free, easy to manufacture and
the operating temperature is lower than traditional monopropellant
propulsion. To establish satellite propulsion technology, the National
Space Organization (NSPO) in Taiwan has initialized a long-term
cooperation project with the National Cheng Kung University to
develop compatible tank and thruster. An experimental propulsion
payload has been allocated for the future self-reliant satellite to
perform orbit transfer and maintenance operations. In the present
research, an 1-Newton thruster prototype is designed and the thrusting
force is measured by a pendulum-type platform. The preliminary
hot-firing test at ambient environment showed the generated thrust and
the specific impulse are about 0.7 Newton and 102 seconds,
respectively.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a futureoriented
human work environment and organizational activity in
deep mines that entails a vision of good and safe workplace. Futureoriented
technological challenges and mental images required for
modern work organization design were appraised. It is argued that an
intelligent-deep-mine covering the entire value chain, including
environmental issues and with work organization that supports good
working and social conditions towards increased human productivity
could be designed. With such intelligent system and work
organization in place, the mining industry could be seen as a place
where cooperation, skills development and gender equality are key
components. By this perspective, both the youth and women might
view mining activity as an attractive job and the work environment
as a safe, and this could go a long way in breaking the unequal
gender balance that exists in most mines today.
Abstract: The goal of this research is discovering the
determinants of the success or failure of external cooperation in small
and medium enterprises (SMEs). For this, a survey was given to 190
SMEs that experienced external cooperation within the last 3 years. A
logistic regression model was used to derive organizational or strategic
characteristics that significantly influence whether external
collaboration of domestic SMEs is successful or not. Results suggest
that research and development (R&D) features in general
characteristics (both idea creation and discovering market
opportunities) that focused on and emphasized indirected-market
stakeholders (such as complementary companies and affiliates) and
strategies in innovative strategic characteristics raise the probability of
successful external cooperation. This can be used meaningfully to
build a policy or strategy for inducing successful external cooperation
or to understand the innovation of SMEs.
Abstract: From an economic standpoint the current and future
road traffic situation in urban areas is a cost factor. Traffic jams and
congestion prolong journey times and tie up resources in trucks and
personnel. Many discussions about imposing charges or tolls for
cities in Europe in order to reduce traffic congestion are currently in
progress. Both of these effects lead – directly or indirectly - to
additional costs for the urban distribution systems in retail
companies. One approach towards improving the efficiency of retail
distribution systems, and thus towards avoiding negative
environmental factors in urban areas, is horizontal collaboration for
deliveries to retail outlets – Urban Retail Logistics. This paper
presents a classification system to help reveal where cooperation
between retail companies is possible and makes sense for deliveries
to retail outlets in urban areas.
Abstract: Various mechanisms providing mutual exclusion and
thread synchronization can be used to support parallel processing
within a single computer. Instead of using locks, semaphores, barriers
or other traditional approaches in this paper we focus on alternative
ways for making better use of modern multithreaded architectures
and preparing hash tables for concurrent accesses. Hash structures
will be used to demonstrate and compare two entirely different
approaches (rule based cooperation and hardware synchronization
support) to an efficient parallel implementation using traditional
locks. Comparison includes implementation details, performance
ranking and scalability issues. We aim at understanding the effects
the parallelization schemes have on the execution environment with
special focus on the memory system and memory access
characteristics.
Abstract: A new class of percolation model in complex networks,
in which nodes are characterized by hidden variables reflecting the
properties of nodes and the occupied probability of each link is
determined by the hidden variables of the end nodes, is studied
in this paper. By the mean field theory, the analytical expressions
for the phase of percolation transition is deduced. It is determined
by the distribution of the hidden variables for the nodes and the
occupied probability between pairs of them. Moreover, the analytical
expressions obtained are checked by means of numerical simulations
on a particular model. Besides, the general model can be applied
to describe and control practical diffusion models, such as disease
diffusion model, scientists cooperation networks, and so on.
Abstract: While in practice negotiation is always a mix of
cooperation and competition, these two elements correspond to
different approaches of the relationship and also different orientations
in term of strategy, techniques, tactics and arguments employed by
the negotiators with related effects and in the end leading to different
outcomes. The levels of honesty, trust and therefore cooperation are
influenced not only by the uncertainty of the situation, the objectives,
stakes or power but also by the orientation given from the very
beginning of the relationship. When negotiation is reduced to a
confrontation of power, participants rely on coercive measures, using
different kinds of threats or make false promises and bluff in order to
establish a more acceptable balance of power.
Most of the negotiators have a tendency to complain about the
unethical aspects of the tactics used by their counterparts while, as
the same time, they are mostly unaware of the sources of influence of
their own vision and practices. In this article, our intention is to
clarify these sources and try to understand what can lead negotiators
to unethical practices.