Search results for: Interaural level difference

Authors: Martin Popescu D. Dana Maria

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The aims of this research are to broaden the study on the relationship between emotional intelligence and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). The study sample consisted in 441 Romanian employees from companies all over the country. Data has been collected through web surveys and processed with SPSS. The results indicated an average correlation between the two constructs and their sub variables, employees with a high level of emotional intelligence tend to be less aggressive. In addition, labeling was considered an individual difference which has the power to influence the level of employee aggression. A regression model was used to underline the importance of emotional intelligence together with labeling as predictors of CWB. Results have shown that this regression model enforces the assumption that labeling and emotional intelligence, taken together, predict CWB. Employees, who label themselves as victims and have a low degree of emotional intelligence, have a higher level of CWB.

Keywords: Aggression, CWB, emotional intelligence, labeling.

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Authors: Charawee Butbumrung

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The purpose of this research was to study customer relationship management on social media affecting brand loyalty of Siam Commercial Bank in Bangkok. The statistics used in data analysis were frequency, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient based on social science statistic program. The result of the study found that the majority of the respondents were female, 37–47 years old of age, bachelor degree of education and monthly income between 10,001 and 15,000 Baht. In addition, customer relationship management in the overall and by each aspect of formulating, maintaining, and extending the customer relationship had a high score. Furthermore, the result of hypothesis testing showed that the difference of the customer’s age, education, occupation, average monthly income had the difference in brand loyalty with the statistical significance level of 0.05 and customer relationship management had related with brand loyalty in the same direction with the low level of statistical significance 0.05.

Keywords: Brand loyalty, customer relationship, management, Siam Commercial Bank, social media.

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Authors: Reza Mollapourasl, Majid Haghi

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In this study, we develop local meshfree methods known as radial basis function-generated finite difference (RBF-FD) method and Hermite finite difference (RBF-HFD) method to design stencil weights and spatial discretization for Helmholtz equation. The convergence and stability of schemes are investigated numerically in three dimensions with irregular shaped domain. These localized meshless methods incorporate the advantages of the RBF method, finite difference and Hermite finite difference methods to handle the ill-conditioning issue that often destroys the convergence rate of global RBF methods. Moreover, numerical illustrations show that the proposed localized RBF type methods are efficient and applicable for problems with complex geometries. The convergence and accuracy of both schemes are compared by solving a test problem.

Keywords: Radial basis functions, Hermite finite difference, Helmholtz equation, stability.

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Authors: Xinyue Ma, Dishen Zhang, Yijun Liu, Yutian Jiang, Huiyan Yu, Chufeng Gu

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Conformity is defined as one in a social group changing his or her behavior to match the others’ behavior in the group. It is used to find that people show a higher level of online conformity behavior than offline. However, as anonymity can decrease the level of online conformity behavior, the difference between online and offline conformity behavior among Chinese college students still needs to be tested. In this study, college students (N = 60) have been randomly assigned into three groups: control group, offline experimental group, and online experimental group. Through comparing the results of offline experimental group and online experimental group with the Mann-Whitney U test, this study verified the results of Asch’s experiment, and found out that people show a lower level of online conformity behavior than offline, which contradicted the previous finding found in China. These results can be used to explain why some people make a lot of vicious remarks and radical ideas on the Internet but perform normally in their real life: the anonymity of the network makes the online group pressure less than offline, so people are less likely to conform to social norms and public opinions on the Internet. What is more, these results support the importance and relevance of online voting, because fewer online group pressures make it easier for people to expose their true ideas, thus gathering more comprehensive and truthful views and opinions.

Keywords: Anonymity, Asch’s group conformity, Chinese college students, online conformity.

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Authors: Qianhong Zhang, Lihui Yang, Daixi Liao,

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In this paper, we study the existence, the boundedness and the asymptotic behavior of the positive solutions of a fuzzy nonlinear difference equations xn+1 = A + k i=0 Bi xn-i , n= 0, 1, · · · . where (xn) is a sequence of positive fuzzy numbers, A,Bi and the initial values x-k, x-k+1, · · · , x0 are positive fuzzy numbers. k ∈ {0, 1, 2, · · ·}.

Keywords: Fuzzy difference equation, boundedness, persistence, equilibrium point, asymptotic behaviour.

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Authors: Sisuwan Kaseamsawat, Sivapan Choo-In

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A study was conducted in May to July 2013 with the aim of determination of heavy metal concentration in orchard area. 60 samples were collected and analyzed for Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), and Zinc (Zn) by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS).

The heavy metal concentrations in sediment of orchards, that use chemical for Cd (1.13 ± 0.26 mg/l), Cu (8.00 ± 1.05 mg/l), Pb (13.16 ± 2.01) and Zn (37.41 ± 3.20 mg/l). The heavy metal concentrations in sediment of the orchards, that do not use chemical for Cd (1.28 ± 0.50 mg/l), Cu (7.60 ± 1.20 mg/l), Pb (29.87 ± 4.88) and Zn (21.79 ± 2.98 mg/l). Statistical analysis between heavy metal in sediment from the orchard, that use chemical and the orchard, that not use chemical were difference statistic significant of 0.5 level of significant for Cd and Pb while no statistically difference for Cu and Zn.

Keywords: Heavy metal, Orchard, Pollution and monitoring, Sediment.

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Authors: Kelemewerk Destalem, Jungjae Cho, Jaeseong Lee, Ju H. Park, Joonhyuk Yoo

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Background subtraction and temporal difference are often used for moving object detection in video. Both approaches are computationally simple and easy to be deployed in real-time image processing. However, while the background subtraction is highly sensitive to dynamic background and illumination changes, the temporal difference approach is poor at extracting relevant pixels of the moving object and at detecting the stopped or slowly moving objects in the scene. In this paper, we propose a simple moving object detection scheme based on adaptive background subtraction and temporal difference exploiting dynamic background updates. The proposed technique consists of histogram equalization, a linear combination of background and temporal difference, followed by the novel frame-based and pixel-based background updating techniques. Finally, morphological operations are applied to the output images. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can solve the drawbacks of both background subtraction and temporal difference methods and can provide better performance than that of each method.

Keywords: Background subtraction, background updating, real time and lightweight algorithm, temporal difference.

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Authors: Wichan Lertlop, Boonyarat Chaleephay

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The objective of this research was to study the appropriate thermal level and time for dabbing customers with the massage compressed pack reported from their perception. The investigation was conducted by comparing different angles of tilted heads done by the customers together with their perception before and after the dabbing. The variables included different temperature of the compressed packs and different dabbing duration. Samples in this study included volunteers who got massage therapy and dabbing with hot compressed packs by traditional Thai medical students. The experiment was conducted during January to June 2013. The research tool consisted of angle meters, stop watches, thermometers, and massage compressed packs. The customers were interviewed for their perceptions before and after the dabbing. The results showed that:

1. There was a difference of the average angles of tilted heads before and after the dabbing.
2. There was no difference of the average angles at different temperatures but constant duration.
3. There was no difference of the average angles at different durations.
4. The customers reported relaxation no matter what the various temperatures and various dabbing durations were. However, they reported too hot at the temperature 70^oC and over.

Keywords: Massage, Therapy, Therapeutic Systems and Technologies.

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Authors: Nopparat Pochai, Rujira Deepana

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Water pollution assessment problems arise frequently in environmental science. In this research, a finite difference method for solving the one-dimensional steady convection-diffusion equation with variable coefficients is proposed; it is then used to optimize water treatment costs.

Keywords: Finite difference, One-dimensional, Steady state, Waterpollution control, Optimization, Convection-diffusion equation.

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Authors: Ying-jie Zhang, Li-ling Ge

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This paper presents an improved image segmentation model with edge preserving regularization based on the piecewise-smooth Mumford-Shah functional. A level set formulation is considered for the Mumford-Shah functional minimization in segmentation, and the corresponding partial difference equations are solved by the backward Euler discretization. Aiming at encouraging edge preserving regularization, a new edge indicator function is introduced at level set frame. In which all the grid points which is used to locate the level set curve are considered to avoid blurring the edges and a nonlinear smooth constraint function as regularization term is applied to smooth the image in the isophote direction instead of the gradient direction. In implementation, some strategies such as a new scheme for extension of u+ and u- computation of the grid points and speedup of the convergence are studied to improve the efficacy of the algorithm. The resulting algorithm has been implemented and compared with the previous methods, and has been proved efficiently by several cases.

Keywords: Energy minimization, image segmentation, level sets, edge regularization.

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Authors: Hassan Saberi-Nik, Mahin Golchaman

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This paper applies the homotopy analysis method method to a nonlinear differential-difference equation arising in nanotechnology. Continuum hypothesis on nanoscales is invalid, and a differential-difference model is considered as an alternative approach to describing discontinued problems. Comparison of the approximate solution with the exact one reveals that the method is very effective.

Keywords: Homotopy analysis method, differential-difference, nanotechnology.

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Authors: Jer-Huan Jang, Han-Chieh Chiu, Wei-Chung Yeih, Jia-Jui Yang, Chien-Sheng Huang

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In this paper, numerical simulation is used to investigate the thermal performance of liquid cooling heatsink with microchannels due to geometric arrangement. Commercial software ICEPAK is utilized for the analysis. The considered parameters include aspect ratio, porosity and the length and height of microchannel. The aspect ratio varies from 3 to 16 and the length of microchannel is 10mm, 14mm, and 18mm. The height of microchannel is 2mm, 3mm and 4mm. It is found short channel have better thermal efficiency than long channel at 490Pa. No matter the length of channel the best aspect ratio is 4. It is also noted that pressure difference at 2940Pa the best aspect ratio from 4 to 8, it means pressure difference affect aspect ratio, effective thermal resistance at low pressure difference but lower effective thermal resistance at high pressure difference.

Keywords: thermal resistance, liquid cooling, microchannels, numerical analysis, pressure difference

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Authors: Ammal M. Metwally, Lobna A. El Etreby, Rehan M. Saleh, Ghada Abdrabou, Somia I. Salama, Amira Orabi, Mohamed Abdelrahman

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Hepatitis C virus infection is a public health threat in Egypt. To control infection, efforts should be spent to encourage healthy behavior. This study aimed to assess the level of behavioral development in order to create a positive environment for the adoption of the recommended behaviors. The study was conducted over one year from Jan. 2011 till Jan. 2012.Knowledge, attitude and behavior of 540 HCV patients and 102 of their contacts were assessed and the level of behavioral development was determined. The study revealed that the majority of patients and contacts knew that HCV infection is dangerous with perceived concern for early diagnosis and treatment. More than 75% knew the correct modes of transmission. The assessment showed positive attitudes towards the recommended practices with intention to adopt those practices. Strategies of creating opportunities to continue the recommended behaviors should be adopted together with the reinforcement of social support.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, Level of behavioral development, recommended behaviors.

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Authors: Zainab Almukhtar, Adel Merabet

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In this paper, a method for maximum power point tracking of a photovoltaic energy conversion system is presented. This method is based on using the difference between the power from the solar panel and an estimated power value to control the DC-DC converter of the photovoltaic system. The difference is continuously compared with a preset error permitted value. If the power difference is more than the error, the estimated power is multiplied by a factor and the operation is repeated until the difference is less or equal to the threshold error. The difference in power will be used to trigger a DC-DC boost converter in order to raise the voltage to where the maximum power point is achieved. The proposed method was experimentally verified through a PV energy conversion system driven by the OPAL-RT real time controller. The method was tested on varying radiation conditions and load requirements, and the Photovoltaic Panel was operated at its maximum power in different conditions of irradiation.

Keywords: Control system, power error, solar panel, MPPT.

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Authors: Y. Rhazali, Y. Hadi, A. Mouloudi

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This paper proposes a method to automatic transformation of CIM level to PIM level respecting the MDA approach. Our proposal is based on creating a good CIM level through well-defined rules allowing as achieving rich models that contain relevant information to facilitate the task of the transformation to the PIM level. We define, thereafter, an appropriate PIM level through various UML diagram. Next, we propose set rules to move from CIM to PIM. Our method follows the MDA approach by considering the business dimension in the CIM level through the use BPMN, standard modeling business of OMG, and the use of UML in PIM advocated by MDA in this level.

Keywords: Model transformation, MDA, CIM, PIM.

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Authors: Chen-Chien Hsu, Guo-Tang Dai

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This paper presents a particle swarm optimization (PSO) based approach for multiple object tracking based on histogram matching. To start with, gray-level histograms are calculated to establish a feature model for each of the target object. The difference between the gray-level histogram corresponding to each particle in the search space and the target object is used as the fitness value. Multiple swarms are created depending on the number of the target objects under tracking. Because of the efficiency and simplicity of the PSO algorithm for global optimization, target objects can be tracked as iterations continue. Experimental results confirm that the proposed PSO algorithm can rapidly converge, allowing real-time tracking of each target object. When the objects being tracked move outside the tracking range, global search capability of the PSO resumes to re-trace the target objects.

Keywords: multiple object tracking, particle swarm optimization, gray-level histogram, image

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Authors: Shazalina Mat Zin, Ahmad Abd. Majid, Ahmad Izani Md. Ismail, Muhammad Abbas

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The generalized wave equation models various problems in sciences and engineering. In this paper, a new three-time level implicit approach based on cubic trigonometric B-spline for the approximate solution of wave equation is developed. The usual finite difference approach is used to discretize the time derivative while cubic trigonometric B-spline is applied as an interpolating function in the space dimension. Von Neumann stability analysis is used to analyze the proposed method. Two problems are discussed to exhibit the feasibility and capability of the method. The absolute errors and maximum error are computed to assess the performance of the proposed method. The results were found to be in good agreement with known solutions and with existing schemes in literature.

Keywords: Collocation method, Cubic trigonometric B-spline, Finite difference, Wave equation.

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Authors: Appanah Rao Appadu, Muhammad Zaid Dauhoo

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In this paper, we have combined some spatial derivatives with the optimised time derivative proposed by Tam and Webb in order to approximate the linear advection equation which is given by = 0. Ôêé Ôêé + Ôêé Ôêé x f t u These spatial derivatives are as follows: a standard 7-point 6 th -order central difference scheme (ST7), a standard 9-point 8 th -order central difference scheme (ST9) and optimised schemes designed by Tam and Webb, Lockard et al., Zingg et al., Zhuang and Chen, Bogey and Bailly. Thus, these seven different spatial derivatives have been coupled with the optimised time derivative to obtain seven different finite-difference schemes to approximate the linear advection equation. We have analysed the variation of the modified wavenumber and group velocity, both with respect to the exact wavenumber for each spatial derivative. The problems considered are the 1-D propagation of a Boxcar function, propagation of an initial disturbance consisting of a sine and Gaussian function and the propagation of a Gaussian profile. It is known that the choice of the cfl number affects the quality of results in terms of dissipation and dispersion characteristics. Based on the numerical experiments solved and numerical methods used to approximate the linear advection equation, it is observed in this work, that the quality of results is dependent on the choice of the cfl number, even for optimised numerical methods. The errors from the numerical results have been quantified into dispersion and dissipation using a technique devised by Takacs. Also, the quantity, Exponential Error for Low Dispersion and Low Dissipation, eeldld has been computed from the numerical results. Moreover, based on this work, it has been found that when the quantity, eeldld can be used as a measure of the total error. In particular, the total error is a minimum when the eeldld is a minimum.

Keywords: Optimised time derivative, dissipation, dispersion, cfl number, Nomenclature: k : time step, h : spatial step, β :advection velocity, r: cfl/Courant number, hkrβ= , w =θ, h : exact wave number, n :time level, RPE : Relative phase error per unit time step, AFM :modulus of amplification factor

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Authors: K. Pongiannan

Abstract:

Advertising is one of the important marketing strategies and the choice of media is an important aspect of effectiveness of advertising media. The two most popular advertising media, TV and web media are highly effective in creating successful advertisements as they influence the purchase decision of the viewers. Although TV and web are electronic media, they are unique in their features and traits of advertising. Hence, the present study attempts to analyze the influence of these two media towards buying behavior of the viewers. The two media are analyzed separately to determine its level of influence towards buying behavior and finally a comparative analysis of these media is attempted to find the difference in their level of influence.

Keywords: Buying Behavior, TV, web, media for advertisements.

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Authors: Rungsinee Phongpradist, Sawitree Chiampanichayakul, Singkome Tima, Teruna J. Siahaan, Cory J. Berkland, Songyot Anuchapreeda, Chadarat Ampasavate

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The expression of LFA-1 diverges from the physiological condition, thus active targeting carrier can provide the benefits from difference into LFA-1 expression in various conditions. Here, the selectivity of cIBR-conjugated nanoparticles (cIBR-NPs), in terms of uptake, was investigated using PBMCs, Mixed PBMCMolt- 3 cells and Molt-3 cells. The expressions of LFA-1 on Molt-3 cells, from flow cytometry and Western blot, possessed the highest level whereas PBMCs showed the lowest level. The kinetic uptake profiles of cIBR-NPs were obtained by flow cytometry, which the degree of cellular uptake presented a similar trend with the level of LFA-1 indicating the influence of LFA-1 expression on the cellular uptake of cIBR-NPs. The conformation of LFA-1 had a slight effect on the cellular uptake of cIBR-NPs. Overall we demonstrated that cIBR-NPs enhanced cellular uptake and improved the selectivity of drug carriers to LFA-1 on the leukemia cells, which related with the order of LFA-1 expression.

Keywords: cIBR, LFA-1, Molt-3, PBMCs

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Authors: Nicole S. McKinney

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The purpose of the study was to determine if, among 32 brain injured adults in community rehabilitation programs, there is a statistically significant relationship between the degree of severity of brain injury and these adults- level of self-esteem and stress. The researcher hypothesized there would be a statistically significant difference and a statistically significant relationship in self-esteem and stress levels among and TBI adults. A Pearson product moment correlational analysis was implemented and results found a statistically significant relationship between self-esteem and stress levels. Future recommendations were suggested upon completion of research.

Keywords: anxiety, community recovery center, head-trauma persons, self-concept

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Authors: Alireza Barari, Maryam Firoozi, Maryam Ebrahimzadeh, Romina Roohani Ardeshiri, Maryam Kamarloeei

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Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of six-week aerobic training and taxol consumption on interleukin-8 and Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in mice with cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 40 female C57 mice with cervical cancer, eight weeks old, were randomly divided into 4 groups including: control, taxol supplement, training, and training-taxol supplement. The implantation of cancerous tumors was performed under the skin at the upper of the pelvis. The program training was included: endurance training for six weeks, 3 sessions per week and 50 minutes per session, at the speed of 14-18 m/s. Taxol supplement at a dose of 60 mg/kg per day was injected intraperitoneally. Data analysis was performed using t-test and one-way ANOVA and if statistically significant, Bonferroni post hoc was used at the significance level p < .05. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the levels of interleukin 8 (P < 0.05, F = 12.25) and the PAI-1 (P < 0.05, P = 0.10737 between the 4 groups. The results of this study showed a significant difference between the control group and the training - complementary group. Six weeks of aerobic training and taxol consumption have a significant effect on the level of PAI-1 and interleukin-8 mice with cervical cancer. Conclusion: Considering the effect of training on these variables, this type of exercise can be used as a complementary therapeutic approach with other therapies for cervical cancer.

Keywords: Cervical cancer, taxol, endurance training, interleukin 8, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1.

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Authors: Khaled Moaddy

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In this paper, we present a fast and accurate numerical scheme for the solution of a Laplace equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions. The non-standard finite difference scheme (NSFD) is applied to construct the numerical solutions of a Laplace equation with two different Dirichlet boundary conditions. The solutions obtained using NSFD are compared with the solutions obtained using the standard finite difference scheme (SFD). The NSFD scheme is demonstrated to be reliable and efficient.

Keywords: Standard finite difference schemes, non–standard schemes, Laplace equation, Dirichlet boundary conditions.

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Authors: N. Katemee, T. Mayureesawan

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This paper developed the c-Chart based on a Zero- Inflated Poisson (ZIP) processes that approximated by a geometric distribution with parameter p. The p estimated that fit for ZIP distribution used in calculated the mean, median, and variance of geometric distribution for constructed the c-Chart by three difference methods. For cg-Chart, developed c-Chart by used the mean and variance of the geometric distribution constructed control limits. For cmg-Chart, the mean used for constructed the control limits. The cme- Chart, developed control limits of c-Chart from median and variance values of geometric distribution. The performance of charts considered from the Average Run Length and Average Coverage Probability. We found that for an in-control process, the cg-Chart is superior for low level of mean at all level of proportion zero. For an out-of-control process, the cmg-Chart and cme-Chart are the best for mean = 2, 3 and 4 at all level of parameter.

Keywords: average coverage probability, average run length, geometric distribution, zero-inflated poisson distribution

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Authors: Marthese Azzopardi, Liberato Camilleri

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This research was performed to investigate the study habits and level of difficulty perceived by post-secondary students in Biology at Advanced-level topics after completing their first year of study. At the end of a two-year ‘sixth form’ course, Maltese students sit for the Matriculation and Secondary Education Certificate (MATSEC) Advanced-level biology exam as a requirement to pursue science-related studies at the University of Malta. The sample was composed of 23 students (16 taking Chemistry and seven taking some ‘Other’ subject at the Advanced Level). The cohort comprised seven males and 16 females. A questionnaire constructed by the authors, was answered anonymously during the last lecture at the end of the first year of study, in May 2016. The Chi square test revealed that gender plays no effect on the various study habits (c² (6) = 5.873, p = 0.438). ‘Reading both notes and textbooks’ was the most common method adopted by males (71.4%), whereas ‘Writing notes on each topic’ was that mostly used by females (81.3%). The Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant difference in the study habits of students and the mean assessment mark obtained at the end of the first year course (p = 0.231). Statistical difference was found with the One-ANOVA test when comparing the mean assessment mark obtained at the end of the first year course when students are clustered by their Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) grade (p < 0.001). Those obtaining a SEC grade of 2 and 3 got the highest mean assessment of 68.33% and 66.9%, respectively [SEC grading is 1-7, where 1 is the highest]. The Friedman test was used to compare the mean difficulty rating scores provided for the difficulty of each topic. The mean difficulty rating score ranges from 1 to 4, where the larger the mean rating score, the higher the difficulty. When considering the whole group of students, nine topics out of 21 were perceived as significantly more difficult than the other topics. Protein synthesis, DNA Replication and Biomolecules were the most difficult, in that order. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed that the perceived level of difficulty in comprehending Biomolecules is significantly lower for students taking Chemistry compared to those not choosing the subject (p = 0.018). Protein Synthesis was claimed as the most difficult by Chemistry students and Biomolecules by those not studying Chemistry. DNA Replication was the second most difficult topic perceived by both groups. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine the effect of gender on the perceived level of difficulty in comprehending various topics. It was found that females have significantly more difficulty in comprehending Biomolecules than males (p=0.039). Protein synthesis was perceived as the most difficult topic by males (mean difficulty rating score = 3.14), while Biomolecules, DNA Replication and Protein synthesis were of equal difficulty for females (mean difficulty rating score = 3.00). Males and females perceived DNA Replication as equally difficult (mean difficulty rating score = 3.00). Discovering the students’ study habits and perceived level of difficulty of specific topics is vital for the lecturer to offer guidance that leads to higher academic achievement.

Keywords: Biology, Perceived difficulty, Post-secondary, Study habits.

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Authors: Jörg Lenhardt, Wolfram Schiffmann, Jörg Keller

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While the feature sizes of recent Complementary Metal Oxid Semiconductor (CMOS) devices decrease the influence of static power prevails their energy consumption. Thus, power savings that benefit from Dynamic Frequency and Voltage Scaling (DVFS) are diminishing and temporal shutdown of cores or other microchip components become more worthwhile. A consequence of powering off unused parts of a chip is that the relative difference between idle and fully loaded power consumption is increased. That means, future chips and whole server systems gain more power saving potential through power-aware load balancing, whereas in former times this power saving approach had only limited effect, and thus, was not widely adopted. While powering off complete servers was used to save energy, it will be superfluous in many cases when cores can be powered down. An important advantage that comes with that is a largely reduced time to respond to increased computational demand. We include the above developments in a server power model and quantify the advantage. Our conclusion is that strategies from datacenters when to power off server systems might be used in the future on core level, while load balancing mechanisms previously used at core level might be used in the future at server level.

Keywords: Power efficiency, static power consumption, dynamic power consumption, CMOS.

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Authors: Li Bixia, Ren Shouwen, Fu Yanfeng, Tu Feng, Xiaoming Fang, Xueming Wang

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The utilization of dietary crude fiber in different breed pigs is not the same. Su-shan pigs are a new breed formed by crossing Taihu pigs and Yorkshire pigs. In order to understand the resistance of Su-shan pigs to dietary crude fiber, 150 Su-shan pigs with 60 kg of average body weight and similar body conditions were allocated to three groups randomly, and there are 50 pigs in each group. The percentages of dietary crude fiber were 8.35%, 9.10%, and 11.39%, respectively. At the end of the experiment, 15 pigs randomly selected from each group were slaughtered. The results showed as follows: average daily gain of the 9.10% group was higher than that of the 8.35% group and the 11.39% group; there was a significant difference between the 9.10% group and the 8.35% group (p < 0.05. Levels of urea nitrogen, total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein in the 9.10% group were significantly higher than those in the 8.35% group and the 11.39% group (p < 0.05). Ratios of meat to fat in the 9.10% group and the 11.39% group were significantly higher than that in the 8.35% group (p < 0.05). Lean percentage of 9.10% group was higher than that of 8.35% group and 11.39% group, but there was no significant difference in three groups (p > 0.05). The weight of small intestine and large intestine in the 11.39% group was higher than that in the 8.35% group, and the 9.10% group and the difference reached a significant level (p < 0.05). In conclusion, increasing dietary crude fiber properly could reduce fat percentage, and improve the ratio of meat to fat of finishing Su-shan pigs. The digestion and metabolism of dietary crude fiber promoted the development of stomach and intestine of finishing Su-shan pig.

Keywords: Su-Shan pigs, dietary crude fiber, growth performance, serum biochemical indexes.

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Authors: Hatice Odacı

Abstract:

Depression is a serious mental health problem that affects people of all ages, including children and adolescents. Studies showed that female gender is one of the risk factors may influence the development of depression in adolescents. However, some of the studies from Turkey suggested that gender does not lead to any significant difference in the youth depression level. Therefore, the presented study investigated whether girls differ from boys in respect of depression. The association between genders and test scores for the adolescents in a population of primary and secondary school students was also evaluated. The study was consisting of 254 adolescents (122 boys and 132 girls) with a mean age of 13.86±1.43 (Mean±SD) ranging from 12-16 years. Psychological assessment was performed using Children-s Depression Inventory (CDI). Chi-square and Student-s t-test statistics were employed to analyze the data. The mean of the CDI scores of the girls were higher than boys- CDI scores (t = -4.580, p = 0.001). Higher ratio appeared for the girls when they compared with boy group-s depression levels using a CDI cut-off point of 19 (p = 0.001, Odds Ratio = 2,603). The findings of the present study suggested that adolescent girls have high level of depression than adolescent boys aged between 12-16 years in Turkey. Although some studies reported that there is no any differences depression level between adolescent boys and girls in Turkey, result of the present study showed that adolescent girls have high level of depression than adolescent boys in Turkey.

Keywords: Depression, Adolescent, Turkey, Female Gender, Male Gender.

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Authors: Nuttanuch Munsakorn

Abstract:

This questionnaire-based study, aimed to measure and compare the awareness of English reading strategies among EFL learners at Bangkok University (BU) classified by their gender, field of study, and English learning experience. Proportional stratified random sampling was employed to formulate a sample of 380 BU students. The data were statistically analyzed in terms of the mean and standard deviation. t-Test analysis was used to find differences in awareness of reading strategies between two groups (-male and female- /-science and social-science students). In addition, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare reading strategy awareness among BU students with different lengths of English learning experience. The results of this study indicated that the overall awareness of reading strategies of EFL learners at BU was at a high level (ðÑ = 3.60) and that there was no statistically significant difference between males and females, and among students who have different lengths of English learning experience at the significance level of 0.05. However, significant differences among students coming from different fields of study were found at the same level of significance.

Keywords: EFL learners, higher education, reading comprehension, reading strategies

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Authors: Hui-Yu Huang, Shih-Hsu Chang

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a high capacity image hiding technology based on pixel prediction and the difference of modified histogram. This approach is used the pixel prediction and the difference of modified histogram to calculate the best embedding point. This approach can improve the predictive accuracy and increase the pixel difference to advance the hiding capacity. We also use the histogram modification to prevent the overflow and underflow. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method within the same average hiding capacity can still keep high quality of image and low distortion

Keywords: data hiding, predictor

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