Search results for: spatial effects

Authors: M. Liebherr, P. Schubert, S. Kersten, C. Dietz, L. Franz, C. T. Haas

Abstract:

With a long history, dual-task has become one of the most intriguing research fields regarding human brain functioning and cognition. However, findings considering effects of taskinterrelations are limited (especially, in combined motor and cognitive tasks). Therefore, we aimed at developing a measurement system in order to analyse interrelation effects of cognitive and motor tasks. On the one hand, the present study demonstrates the applicability of the measurement system and on the other hand first results regarding a systematisation of different task combinations are shown. Future investigations should combine imagine technologies and this developed measurement system.

Keywords: Dual-task, interference, cognition, measurement.

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Authors: Badr M. Alshammari, T. Guesmi

Abstract:

In recent years, the combined economic and emission power dispatch is one of the main problems of electrical power system. It aims to schedule the power generation of generators in order to minimize cost production and emission of harmful gases caused by fossil-fueled thermal units such as CO, CO₂, NO_x, and SO₂. To solve this complicated multi-objective problem, an improved version of the particle swarm optimization technique that includes non-dominated sorting concept has been proposed. Valve point loading effects and system losses have been considered. The three-unit and ten-unit benchmark systems have been used to show the effectiveness of the suggested optimization technique for solving this kind of nonconvex problem. The simulation results have been compared with those obtained using genetic algorithm based method. Comparison results show that the proposed approach can provide a higher quality solution with better performance.

Keywords: Power dispatch, valve point loading effects, multiobjective optimization, Pareto solutions.

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Authors: Wang Xu, Yao Yangyang, Lin Ying, Wang Zhenzhen

Abstract:

Intelligent Transportation System integrates various modern advanced technologies into the ground transportation system, and it will be the goal of urban transport system in the future because of its comprehensive effects. However, it also brings some problems, such as project performance assessment, fairness of benefiting groups, fund management, which are directly related to its operation and implementation. Wuhan has difficulties in organizing transportation because of its nature feature (river and lake), therefore, calling Service of Taxi plays an important role in transportation. This paper researches on calling Service of Taxi in Wuhan, based on quantitative and qualitative analysis. It analyzes its operations management systematically, including business model, finance, usage analysis and users evaluation. As for business model, it is that the government leads the operation at the initial stage, and the third part dominates the operation at the mature stage, which not only eases the pressure of the third part and benefits the spread of the calling service at the initial stage, but also alleviates financial pressure of government and improve the efficiency of the operation at the mature stage. As for finance, it draws that this service will bring heavy financial burden of equipments, but it will be alleviated in the future because of its spread. As for usage analysis, through data comparison, this service can bring some benefits for taxi drivers, and time and spatial distribution of usage have certain features. As for user evaluation, it analyzes using group and the reason why choosing it. At last, according to the analysis above, the paper puts forward the potentials, limitations, and future development strategies for it.

Keywords: Assessment, Calling service of taxi, Operations management, Strategies, Using groups.

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Authors: Hamada A. Ahmed, Kadry M. Sadek, Ayman E. Taha

Abstract:

The effects of basil and/or chamomile seed supplementation on the growth of Hubbard broiler chicks were evaluated. The antioxidant effects of these supplements were also assessed. 120 1-day-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into four equal groups. The control group (group 1) was fed a basal diet (BD) without supplementation. Groups 2, 3, and 4 were fed the BD supplemented with 10g basil, 10g chamomile, and 5g basil plus 5g chamomile per kg of food, respectively. Basil supplementation alone or in combination with chamomile non-significantly (P≥0.05) increased final body weight (3.2% and 0.3%, respectively) and weight gain (3.5% and 3.6%, respectively) over the experimental period. Chamomile supplementation alone non-significantly (P≥0.05) reduced final body weight and weight gain over the experimental period by 1.7% and 1.7%, respectively. In comparison to the control group, herbal seed supplementation reduced feed intake and improved the feed conversion and protein efficiency ratios. In general, basil seed supplementation stimulated chicken growth and improved the feed efficiency more effectively than chamomile seed supplementation. The antioxidant activities of basil and/or chamomile supplementation were examined in the thymus, bursa, and spleen. In chickens that received supplements, the level of malondialdehyde was significantly decreased, whereas the activities of glutathione, superoxide dismutase, and catalase were significantly increased (P<0.05). Supplementation of basil and/or chamomile did not affect blood protein levels, but had lipid-lowering effects as evidenced by reduced serum levels of total lipids, triglycerides, and cholesterol. In conclusion, supplementation of basil and/or chamomile improved growth parameters in broiler chicks and had antioxidant and blood lipid-lowering effects. These beneficial effects of basil and/or chamomile supplementation resulted in economically viable production of high-quality white meat containing no harmful residues.

Keywords: Herbal additives, basil, chamomile, broiler, growth performance, antioxidant.

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Authors: Matěj Kuc

Abstract:

This paper compares different types of profitability measures of cooperative banks from two developed regions: the European Union and the United States of America together with Canada. We created balanced dataset of more than 200 cooperative banks covering 2011-2016 period. We made series of tests and run Random Effects estimation on panel data. We found that American and Canadian cooperatives are more profitable in terms of return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). There is no significant difference in net interest margin (NIM). Our results show that the North American cooperative banks accommodated better to the current market environment.

Keywords: Cooperative banking, panel data, profitability measures, random effects.

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Authors: M. Othman, N. Bhuiyan, G. J. Gouw

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In today-s competitive market, most companies develop manufacturing systems that can help in cost reduction and maximum quality. Human issues are an important part of manufacturing systems, yet most companies ignore their effects on production performance. This paper aims to developing an integrated workforce planning system that incorporates the human being. Therefore, a multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model is developed to determine the amount of hiring, firing, training, overtime for each worker type. This paper considers a workforce planning model including human aspects such as skills, training, workers- personalities, capacity, motivation, and learning rates. This model helps to minimize the hiring, firing, training and overtime costs, and maximize the workers- performance. The results indicate that the workers- differences should be considered in workforce scheduling to generate realistic plans with minimum costs. This paper also investigates the effects of human learning rates on the performance of the production systems.

Keywords: Human Factors, Learning Curves, Workers' Differences, Workforce Scheduling

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Authors: Martin Kendra, Tomas Skrucany, Jaroslav Masek

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The noise is one of the negative elements which affects the human health. This article presents the measurement of emitted noise by road vehicle and its parts during the operation. Measurement was done in the interior of common passenger cars with a digital sound meter. The results compare the noise value in different cars with different body shape, which influences the driver’s health. Transport has considerable ecological effects; many of them are detrimental to environmental sustainability. Roads and traffic exert a variety of direct and mostly detrimental effects on nature.

Keywords: Driver, noise measurement, passenger road vehicle, road transport.

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Authors: Andra Costache, Gica Pehoiu

Abstract:

As in other countries from Central and Eastern Europe, the economic restructuring occurred in the last decade of the twentieth century affected the mining industry in Romania, an oversize and heavily subsidized sector before 1989. After more than a decade since the beginning of mining restructuring, an evaluation of current social implications of the process it is required, together with an efficiency analysis of the adaptation mechanisms developed at governmental level. This article aims to provide an insight into these issues through case studies conducted in the most important coal basin of Romania, Petroşani Depression.

Keywords: case studies, government programs, miningrestructuring, social effects.

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Authors: MA. Ansari

Abstract:

In cancer progress, the optical properties of tissues like absorption and scattering coefficient change, so by these changes, we can trace the progress of cancer, even it can be applied for pre-detection of cancer. In this paper, we investigate the effects of changes of optical properties on light penetrated into tissues. The diffusion equation is widely used to simulate light propagation into biological tissues. In this study, the boundary integral method (BIM) is used to solve the diffusion equation. We illustrate that the changes of optical properties can modified the reflectance or penetrating light.

Keywords: Diffusion equation, boundary element method, refractive index

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Authors: Dmitry D. Zakharov

Abstract:

The theoretical prediction of the acoustical polarization effects in the heterogeneous composites, made of thick elastic solids with thin nematic films, is presented. The numericalanalytical solution to the problem of the different wave propagation exhibits some new physical effects in the low frequency domain: the appearance of the critical frequency and the existence of the narrow transition zone where the wave rapidly changes its speed. The associated wave attenuation is highly perturbed in this zone. We also show the possible appearance of the critical frequencies where the attenuation changes the sign. The numerical results of parametrical analysis are presented and discussed.

Keywords: Surface wave, guided wave, heterogeneous composite, nematic coating.

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Authors: L. Yettou

Abstract:

In this study, the calculations of proton emission spectra produced by ⁶³Cu(n,xp) and ⁶⁵Cu(n,xp) reactions are used in the framework of preequilibrium models using the EMPIRE code and TALYS code. Exciton Model predidtions combined with the Kalbach angular distribution systematics and the Hybrid Monte Carlo Simulation (HMS) were used. The effects of levels densities and those of a-parameter have been investigated for our calculations. The comparison with experimental data shows clear improvement over the Exciton Model and HMS calculations.

Keywords: Preequilibrium models, level density, level density a-parameter, 63Cu(n, xp) and 65Cu(n, xp) reactions.

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Authors: Giorgi Bregadze

Abstract:

Tourism is the most viable and sustainable economic development option for Georgia and one of the main sources of foreign exchange earnings. Events are considered as one of the most effective ways to attract foreign visitors to the country, and, recently, the government of Georgia has begun investing in this sector very actively. This article stresses the necessity of research based economic policy in the tourism sector. In this regard, it is of paramount importance to measure the economic effects of the events which are subsidized by taxpayers’ money. The economic effect of events can be analyzed from two perspectives; financial perspective of the government and perspective of economic effects of the tourism administration. The article emphasizes more realistic and all-inclusive focus of the economic effect analysis of the tourism administration as it concentrates on the income of residents and local businesses, part of which generate tax revenues for the government. The public would like to know what the economic returns to investment are. In this article, the methodology used to describe the economic effects of UEFA Super Cup held in Tbilisi, will help to answer this question. Methodology is based on three main principles and covers three stages. Using the suggested methodology article estimates the direct economic effect of UEFA Super cup on Georgian economy. Although the attempt to make an economic effect analysis of the event was successful in Georgia, some obstacles and insufficiencies were identified during the survey. The article offers several recommendations that will help to refine methodology and improve the accuracy of the data. Furthermore, it is very important to receive the correct standard of measurement of events in Georgia. In this caseü non-ethical acts of measurement which are widely utilized by different research companies will not trigger others to show overestimated effects. It is worth mentioning that to author’s best knowledge, this is the first attempt to measure the economic effect of an event held in Georgia.

Keywords: Biased economic effect analysis, expenditure of local citizens, time switchers and casuals, UEFA super cup.

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Authors: D. Kari Basavaraja, M. G. Skanda, C. Soumya, V. Ramesh

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This paper discusses the effects of sodium hypophosphite concentration, pH, and temperature on deposition rate. This paper also discusses the evaluation of coating strength, surface, and subsurface by varying the bath parameters, percentage of phosphate, plating temperature, and pH of the plating solution. Taguchi technique has been used for the analysis. In the experiment, nickel chloride which is a source of nickel when mixed with sodium hypophosphite has been used as the reducing agent and the source of phosphate and sodium hydroxide has been used to vary the pH of the coating bath. The coated samples are tested for impact energy by conducting impact test. Finally, the effects of coating bath parameters on the impact energy absorbed have been plotted, and analysis has been carried out. Further, percentage contribution of coating bath parameters using Design of Experiments approach (DOE) has been analysed. Finally, it can be concluded that the bath parameters of the Ni-P coating will certainly influence on the strength of the specimen.

Keywords: Bath parameters, coatings, design of experiment, fracture toughness, impact strength.

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Authors: Danial Husseinzadeh

Abstract:

A new supported liquid membrane (SLM) system for the selective transport of VO2 + ions was prepared in this present work. The SLM was a thin porous polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane soaked with Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) as mobile carrier in Xylene as organic solvent. D2EHPA acts as a highly selective carrier for the uphill transport of VO2 + ions through the SLM. The transport of VO2 + ions reached to 64%. In the presence of P2O7-2 ion as suitable masking agent in the feed solution, the interfering effects of other cations were eliminated.

Keywords: Facilitated ion transport, Membrane characteristics, Supported liquid membranes, Vanadium.

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Authors: Sudip Kumar Kundu, Charu Singh

Abstract:

As a great physiographic divide, the Himalayas affecting a large system of water and air circulation which helps to determine the climatic condition in the Indian subcontinent to the south and mid-Asian highlands to the north. It creates obstacles by defending chill continental air from north side into India in winter and also defends rain-bearing southwesterly monsoon to give up maximum precipitation in that area in monsoon season. Nowadays extreme weather conditions such as heavy precipitation, cloudburst, flash flood, landslide and extreme avalanches are the regular happening incidents in the region of North Western Himalayan (NWH). The present study has been planned to investigate the suitable model(s) to find out the rainfall pattern over that region. For this investigation, selected models from Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) has been utilized in a consistent framework for the period of 1976 to 2000 (historical). The ability of these driving models from CORDEX domain and CMIP5 has been examined according to their capability of the spatial distribution as well as time series plot of rainfall over NWH in the rainy season and compared with the ground-based Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) gridded rainfall data set. It is noted from the analysis that the models like MIROC5 and MPI-ESM-LR from the both CORDEX and CMIP5 provide the best spatial distribution of rainfall over NWH region. But the driving models from CORDEX underestimates the daily rainfall amount as compared to CMIP5 driving models as it is unable to capture daily rainfall data properly when it has been plotted for time series (TS) individually for the state of Uttarakhand (UK) and Himachal Pradesh (HP). So finally it can be said that the driving models from CMIP5 are better than CORDEX domain models to investigate the rainfall pattern over NWH region.

Keywords: Global warming, rainfall, CMIP5, CORDEX, North Western Himalayan region.

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Authors: Morteza Pourazar, Fatemeh Mirakhori, Fazlolah Bagherzadeh, Rasool Hemayattalab

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The purpose of study was to examine the effects of external and internal focus of attention in the motor learning of children with cerebral palsy. The study involved 30 boys (7 to 12 years old) with CP type 1 who practiced throwing beanbags. The participants were randomly assigned to the internal focus, external focus, and control groups, and performed six blocks of 10-trial with attentional focus reminders during a practice phase and no reminders during retention and transfer tests. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures on the last factor was used. The results show that significant main effects were found for time and group. However, the interaction of time and group was not significant. Retention scores were significantly higher for the external focus group. The external focus group performed better than other groups; however, the internal focus and control groups’ performance did not differ. The study concluded that motor skills in Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy (SHCP) children could be enhanced by external attention.

Keywords: Cerebral Palsy, external attention, internal attention, throwing task.

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Authors: Gracia V. Navarro, María C. González, María G. González, María V. González

Abstract:

In Chile, since 2002, there are extracurricular enrichment programs complementary to regular education for students with high intellectual capacity. This paper describes a model for the educational inclusion of students, with special educational needs associated with high intellectual capacity, developed at the University of Concepción and its effects on its students, academics and undergraduate students that collaborate with the program. The Talentos UdeC Program was created in 2003 and is intended for 240 children and youth from 11 to 18 years old, from 15 communes of the Biobio region. The case Talentos UdeC is analyzed from a mixed qualitative study in which those participating in the educational model are considered. The sample was composed of 30 students, 30 academics, and 30 undergraduate students. In the case of students, pre and post program measurements were made to analyze their socio-emotional adaptation, academic motivation and socially responsible behavior. The mentioned variables are measured through questionnaires designed and validated by the University of Concepcion that included: The Socially Responsible Behavior Questionnaire (CCSR); the Academic Motivation Questionnaire (CMA) and the Socio-Emotional Adaptation Questionnaire (CASE). The information obtained by these questionnaires was analyzed through a quantitative analysis. Academics and undergraduate students were interviewed to learn their perception of the effects of the program on themselves, on students and on society. The information obtained is analyzed using qualitative analysis based on the identification of common themes and descriptors for the construction of conceptual categories of answers. Quantitative results show differences in the first three variables analyzed in the students, after their participation for two years in Talentos UdeC. Qualitative results demonstrate perception of effects in the vision of world, project of life and in other areas of the students’ development; perception of effects in a personal, professional and organizational plane by academics and a perception of effects in their personal-social development and training in generic competencies by undergraduates students.

Keywords: Educational model, high intellectual capacity, inclusion, special educational needs.

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Authors: Ioannis Binas, Marios Moschakis

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Electrical faults in transmission and distribution networks can have great impact on the electrical equipment used. Fault effects depend on the characteristics of the fault as well as the network itself. It is important to anticipate the network’s behavior during faults when planning a new equipment installation, as well as troubleshooting. Moreover, working backwards, we could be able to estimate the characteristics of the fault when checking the perceived effects. Different transformer winding connections dominantly used in the Greek power transfer and distribution networks and the effects of 1-phase to neutral, phase-to-phase, 2-phases to neutral and 3-phase faults on different locations of the network were simulated in order to present voltage sag characteristics. The study was performed on a generic network with three steps down transformers on two voltage level buses (one 150 kV/20 kV transformer and two 20 kV/0.4 kV). We found that during faults, there are significant changes both on voltage magnitudes and on phase angles. The simulations and short-circuit analysis were performed using the PSCAD simulation package. This paper presents voltage characteristics calculated for the simulated network, with different approaches on the transformer winding connections during symmetrical and asymmetrical faults on various locations.

Keywords: Phase angle shift, power quality, transformer winding connections, voltage sag propagation.

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Authors: M. Sasajima, M. Watanabe, T. Yamaguchi, Y. Kurosawa, Y. Koike

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Sound pathways in the enclosures of small earphones are very narrow. In such narrow pathways, the speed of sound propagation and the phase of sound waves change because of the air viscosity. We have developed a new finite element method that includes the effects of damping due to air viscosity for modeling the sound pathway. This method is developed as an extension of the existing finite element method for porous sound-absorbing materials. The numerical calculation results using the proposed finite element method are validated against the existing calculation methods.

Keywords: Simulation, FEM, air viscosity, damping.

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Authors: R. Khaldi, N. Benamrouche, M. Bouheraoua

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The ability to predict an accurate temperature distribution requires the knowledge of the losses, the thermal characteristics of the materials, and the cooling conditions, all of which are very difficult to quantify. In this paper, the impact of the effects of iron and copper losses are investigated separately and their effects on the heating in various points of the stator of an induction motor, is highlighted by using two simple tests. In addition, the effect of a defect, such as an open circuit in a phase of the stator, on the heating is also obtained by a no-load test. The squirrel cage induction motor is rated at 2.2 kW; 380 V; 5.2 A; Δ connected; 50 Hz; 1420 rpm and the class of insulation F, has been thermally tested under several load conditions. Several thermocouples were placed in strategic points of the stator.

Keywords: induction motor, temperature, heating, losses

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Authors: Mojca Ciglaric, Andrej Krevl, Matjaž Pancur, Tone Vidmar

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P2P Networks are highly dynamic structures since their nodes – peer users keep joining and leaving continuously. In the paper, we study the effects of network change rates on query routing efficiency. First we describe some background and an abstract system model. The chosen routing technique makes use of cached metadata from previous answer messages and also employs a mechanism for broken path detection and metadata maintenance. Several metrics are used to show that the protocol behaves quite well even with high rate of node departures, but above a certain threshold it literally breaks down and exhibits considerable efficiency degradation.

Keywords: Network dynamics, overlay network, P2P system, routing efficiency.

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Authors: Sibel Ecemiş Kiliç, Muhammed Aydoğan

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The rapid development of culture tourism has drawn attention to conserving cultural values especially by developing countries that would like to benefit from the economic contribution this type of tourism attracts. Tourism can have both positive and negative outcomes for historical settlements and their residents. The accommodation-purposed rehabilitation and revitalization project in “Sigacik Old City Zone” are to be discussed with spatial, economic, social and organizational dimensions. It is aimed to evaluate the relationship between the development of tourism and sustainable heritage conservation.

Keywords: Sigacik, urban conservation, sustainable tourism.

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Authors: Tahereh Naji, Mahsa Jassemi

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In this investigation, the antibacterial effects of ethanolic and 7:3 isopropyl –hexane mixture extracts of Zingiber officinale were evaluated against three Gram positive bacteria, B. cereus, S.epidermidis, S. aureus and three Gram negative bacteria, E. coli, K.pneumonia and P.areuginosa. Utilizing paper disk diffusion and well methods in-vitro, MIC and MBC were determined by macrodilution. The results showed that ethanolic rhizome extract of ginger had significantly active than Isopropyl –hexan extract. Further work needs to be done in these extracts including fractionation to isolate active constituents and subsequent pharmacological evaluation.

Keywords: Antibacterial, Medicinal plant extract, Zingiberofficinale.

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Authors: J. Chakwizira, P. Bikam, T. A. Adeboyejo

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This paper seeks to illustrate the impact of rapid urbanization (in terms of both increase in people and vehicles) in the Gauteng region (which includes Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni). The impact that existing transport systems and options place on the capacity of residents from low income areas to travel and conduct various socio-economic activities is discussed. The findings are drawn from a 2013 analysis of a random transport household survey of 1550 households carried out in Gauteng province. 91.4% of the study respondents had access to public transport, while 8.6% had no access to public transport. Of the 91.4% who used public transport, the main reason used to explain this state of affairs was that it was affordable (54.3%), convenient (15.9%), Accessible (11.9%), lack of alternatives (6.4%) and reliable at 4.1%. Recommendations advanced revolve around the need to reverse land use and transportation effects of apartheid planning, growing and developing a sustainable critical mass of public transport interventions supported by appropriate transport systems that are environmentally sustainable through proper governance. 38.5% of the respondents indicated that developing compact, smart and integrated urban land spaces was key to reducing travel challenges in the study area. 23.4% indicated that the introduction and upgrading of BRT buses to cover all areas in the study area was a step in the right direction because it has great potential in shifting travel patterns to favor public modes of transport. 15.1% indicated that all open spaces should be developed so that fragmentation of land uses can be addressed. This would help to fight disconnected and fragmented space and trip making challenges in Gauteng. 13.4% indicated that improving the metro rail services was critical since this is a mass mover of commuters. 9.6% of the respondents highlighted that the bus subsidy policy has to be retained in the short to medium term since the spatial mismatches and challenges created by apartheid are yet to be fully reversed.

Keywords: Urbanisation, population, public, transport systems, Gauteng.

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Authors: Al-Shabatat, M. Ahmad, Abbas, M., Ismail, H. Nizam

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Achievement motivation is believed to promote giftedness attracting people to invest in many programs to adopt gifted students providing them with challenging activities. Intellectual giftedness is founded on the fluid intelligence and extends to more specific abilities through the growth and inputs from the achievement motivation. Acknowledging the roles played by the motivation in the development of giftedness leads to an effective nurturing of gifted individuals. However, no study has investigated the direct and indirect effects of the achievement motivation and fluid intelligence on intellectual giftedness. Thus, this study investigated the contribution of motivation factors to giftedness development by conducting tests of fluid intelligence using Cattell Culture Fair Test (CCFT) and analytical abilities using culture reduced test items covering problem solving, pattern recognition, audio-logic, audio-matrices, and artificial language, and self report questionnaire for the motivational factors. A number of 180 highscoring students were selected using CCFT from a leading university in Malaysia. Structural equation modeling was employed using Amos V.16 to determine the direct and indirect effects of achievement motivation factors (self confidence, success, perseverance, competition, autonomy, responsibility, ambition, and locus of control) on the intellectual giftedness. The findings showed that the hypothesized model fitted the data, supporting the model postulates and showed significant and strong direct and indirect effects of the motivation and fluid intelligence on the intellectual giftedness.

Keywords: Achievement motivation, Intellectual Giftedness, Fluid Intelligence, Analytical Giftedness, CCFT, Structural EquationModeling.

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Authors: Ahmet Ay, Hakan Acet, Ceyhun Can Özcan

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Economic freedoms, most emphasized issue in the recent years, are considered to affect economic growth and performance via institutional structure. In this context, a model that includes Turkey and Middle East Countries, and where the effects of economic freedom on growth are examined, was formed. For the groups of countries determined, in the study carried out by using the dataset belonging the period of 2004 - 2009, between economic freedoms and growth, a negative relationship was observed as group. In the sense of individual effects, it was identified that there was a positive relationship in terms of some Middle East Countries and Turkey.

Keywords: Economic Freedoms, Economic Growth, Freedoms.

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Authors: George D. Ranis, Valasia Iakovoglou, George N. Zaimes

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Fires is one of the main types of disturbances that shape ecosystems in the Mediterranean region. However nowadays, climate alterations towards higher temperatures result on increased levels of fire intensity, frequency and spread as well as difficulties for natural regeneration to occur. Thasos Island is one of the Greek islands that has experienced those problems. Since 1984, a series of wildfires led to the reduction of forest cover from 61.6% to almost 20%. The negative impacts were devastating in many different aspects for the island. The absence of plant cover, post-wildfire precipitation and steep slopes were the major factors that induced severe soil erosion and intense floods. That also resulted to serious economic problems to the local communities and the inability of the burnt areas to regenerate naturally. Despite the substantial amount of published work regarding Thasos wildfires, there is no information related to post-wildfire effects on factors such as soil erosion. More research related to post-fire effects should help to an overall assessment of the negative impacts of wildfires on land degradation through processes such as soil erosion and flooding.

Keywords: Erosion, land degradation, Mediterranean islands, regeneration, Thasos, wildfires.

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Authors: Diako Azizi, Hosein Heydari, Ahmad Gholami

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Today with the rapid growth of telecommunications equipment, electronic and developing more and more networks of power, influence of electromagnetic waves on one another has become hot topic discussions. So in this article, this issue and appropriate mechanisms for EMC operations have been presented. First, a source of alternating current (50 Hz) and a clear victim in a certain distance from the source is placed. With this simple model, the effects of electromagnetic radiation from the source to the victim will be investigated and several methods to reduce these effects have been presented. Therefore passive and active shields have been used. In some steps, shielding effectiveness of proposed shields will be compared. . It should be noted that simulations have been done by the finite element method (FEM).

Keywords: Electrical field, field distribution, finite element method, shielding effectiveness

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Authors: Kanita Thanacharoenchanaphas, Orose Rugchati

Abstract:

This study assessed the effects of climate change on Thai soybeans under simulation situations. Our study is focused on temperature variability and effects on growth, yield, and genetic changes in 2 generations of Chiang Mai 60 cultivars. In the experiment, soybeans were exposed to 3 levels of air temperature for 8 h day-1 in an open top chamber for 2 cropping periods. Air temperature levels in each treatment were controlled at 30-33°C (± 2.3) for LT-treatment, 33-36°C ( ± 2.4) for AT-treatment, and 36-40 °C ( ± 3.2) for HT-treatment, respectively. Positive effects of high temperature became obvious at the maturing stage when yield significantly increased in both cropping periods. Results in growth indicated that shoot length at the pre-maturing stage (V3-R3) was more positively affected by high temperature than at the maturing stage. However, the positive effect on growth under high temperature was not found in the 2nd cropping period. Finally, genetic changes were examined in phenotype characteristics by the AFLPs technique. The results showed that the high temperature factor clearly caused genetic change in the soybeans and showed more alteration in the 2nd cropping period.

Keywords: simulation, air temperature, variability, Thai soybean, yield , genetic change

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Authors: Burak Yildirim, Muhsin Tunay Gençoğlu

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A microgrid (MG) is a small power grid composed of localized medium or low level power generation, storage systems, and loads. In this paper, the effects of a MG on power systems voltage stability are shown. The MG model, designed to demonstrate the effects of the MG, was applied to the IEEE 14 bus power system which is widely used in power system stability studies. Eigenvalue and modal analysis methods were used in simulation studies. In the study results, it is seen that MGs affect system voltage stability positively by increasing system voltage instability limit value for buses of a power system in which MG are placed.

Keywords: Eigenvalue analysis, microgrid, modal analysis, voltage stability.

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