Search results for: Factor Analysis.
3657 The Rise of Nationalism among South Korean Youth and Democracy: An Analysis
Authors: Noor Sulastry Yurni Ahmad , Ki-Soo Eun
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The 2008 Candlelight Protests of Korea was very significant to portray the political environment among the South Korean youth. Many challenges and new advanced technologies have driven the youth community to be engaged in the political arena that has shifted them from traditional Korean youth to a very greater community. Due to historical perspective with the people of North Korea, the young generation has embraced different view of ethnic nationalism. This study examines the youth involvement in politics in line with their level of acceptance the practice of democracy. The increase usage of new media has shown great results in the survey results whereby the youth used as a platform to gain political information and brought higher degree of their sociopolitical interests among them. Furthermore, the rise of nationalism and patriotism will be discussed in this paper to the dynamism of the political approaches used by the Korea governmentKeywords: Nationalism, new media, political participation, youth
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32073656 Enhancement of Pulsed Eddy Current Response Based on Power Spectral Density after Continuous Wavelet Transform Decomposition
Authors: A. Benyahia, M. Zergoug, M. Amir, M. Fodil
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The main objective of this work is to enhance the Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) response from the aluminum structure using signal processing. Cracks and metal loss in different structures cause changes in PEC response measurements. In this paper, time-frequency analysis is used to represent PEC response, which generates a large quantity of data and reduce the noise due to measurement. Power Spectral Density (PSD) after Wavelet Decomposition (PSD-WD) is proposed for defect detection. The experimental results demonstrate that the cracks in the surface can be extracted satisfactorily by the proposed methods. The validity of the proposed method is discussed.
Keywords: NDT, pulsed eddy current, continuous wavelet transform, Mexican hat wavelet mother, defect detection, power spectral density.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7653655 How Herding Bias Could be Derived from Individual Investor Types and Risk Tolerance?
Authors: Huei-Wen Lin
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This paper is to clarify the relationship of individual investor types, risk tolerance and herding bias. The questionnaire survey investigation is conducted to collect 389 valid and voluntary individual investors and to examine how the risk tolerance plays as a mediator between four types of personality and herding bias. Based on featuring BB&K model and reviewing the prior literature of psychology, a linear structural model are constructed and further used to evaluate the path of herding formation through the analysis of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results showed that more impetuous investors would be prone to herding bias directly, but rather exhibit higher risk tolerance. However, risk tolerance would fully mediate between the level of confidence (i.e., confident or anxious) and herding bias, but not mediate between the method of action (careful or impetuous) for individual investors.
Keywords: Herding, investor types, risk tolerance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 43503654 Firm Ownership and Performance: Evidence for Croatian Listed Firms
Authors: M. Pervan, I. Pervan, M. Todoric
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Using data of listed Croatian firms from the Zagreb Stock Exchange we analyze the relationship between firm ownership (ownership concentration and type) and performance (ROA). Empirical research was conducted for the period 2003-2010, yielding with the total of 1,430 observations. Empirical findings based on dynamic panel analysis indicate that ownership concentration variable - CR4 is negatively related with performance, i.e. listed firms with dispersed ownership perform better than firms with concentrated ownership. Also, the research indicated that foreign controlled listed firms perform better than domestically controlled firms. Majority state owned firms perform worse than privately held firms but dummy variable for privately controlled firms was not statistically significant in the estimated panel model.Keywords: Croatia, firm, ownership, performance
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22903653 Increasing the Heterogeneity and Competition of Early Stage Financing: An Analysis of the Role of Crowdfunding in Entrepreneurial Ventures
Authors: Lars Silver, Björn Berggren, Andreas Fili
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The financial crisis has decreased the opportunities of small businesses to acquire financing through conventional financial actors, such as commercial banks. This credit constraint is partly the reason for the emergence of new alternatives of financing, in addition to the spreading opportunities for communication and secure financial transfer through Internet. One of the most interesting venues for finance is termed “crowdfunding". As the term suggests crowdfunding is an appeal to prospective customers and investors to form a crowd that will finance projects that otherwise would find it hard to generate support through the most common financial actors. Crowdfunding is in this paper divided into different models; the threshold model, the microfinance model, the micro loan model and the equity model. All these models add to the financial possibilities of emerging entrepreneurs.Keywords: Entrepreneurship, crowdfunding, equity finance, bank finance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26903652 The Effect of Entrepreneurship on Foreign Direct Investment
Authors: Wissam B. Fahed
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Entrepreneurship has become an important and extensively researched concept in business studies. Research on foreign direct investment (FDI) has become widespread due to the growth of FDI and its importance in globalization. Most entrepreneurship studies examined the importance and influence of entrepreneurial orientation in a micro-level context. On the other hand, studies and research concerning FDI used statistical techniques to analyze the effect, determinants, and motives of FDI on a macroeconomic level, ignoring empirical studies on other noneconomic determinants. In order to bridge the gap between the theory and empirical evidence on FDI and the theory and research on entrepreneurship, this study examines the impact of entrepreneurship on inward foreign direct investment. The relationship between entrepreneurship and foreign direct investment is investigated through regression analysis of pooled time-series and cross-sectional data. The results suggest that entrepreneurship has a significant effect on FDI.Keywords: Entrepreneurship, foreign direct investment, globalization, economic freedom.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 38883651 Development of a New CFD Multi-Coupling Tool Based on Immersed Boundary Method: toward SRM Analysis
Authors: Ho Phu TRAN, Frédéric PLOURDE
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The ongoing effort to develop an in-house compressible solver with multi-disciplinary physics is presented in this paper. Basic compressible solver combined with IBM technique provides us an effective numerical tool able to tackle the physics phenomena and especially physic phenomena involved in Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs). Main principles are introduced step by step describing its implementation. This paper sheds light on the whole potentiality of our proposed numerical model and we strongly believe a way to introduce multi-physics mechanisms strongly coupled is opened to ablation in nozzle, fluid/structure interaction and burning propellant surface with time.Keywords: Compressible Flow, Immersed Boundary Method, Multi-disciplinary physics, Solid Rocket Motors.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18383650 Analysis of Air-Water Two-Phase Flow in a 3x3 Rod Bundle
Authors: Pei-Syuan Ruan, Ya-Chi Yu, Shao-Wen Chen, Jin-Der Lee, Jong-Rong Wang, Chunkuan Shih
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This study investigated the void fraction characteristics under low superficial gas velocity (Jg) and low superficial fluid velocity (Jf) conditions in a 3x3 rod bundle geometry. Three arrangements of conductivity probes were set to measure the void fraction at various cross-sectional regions, including rod-gap, sub-channel and rod-wall regions. The experimental tests were performed under the flow conditions of Jg = 0-0.236 m/s and Jf = 0-0.142 m/s, and the time-averaged void fractions were recorded at each flow condition. It was observed that while the superficial gas velocity increases, the small bubbles started to cluster together and become big bubbles. As the superficial fluid velocity increases, the local void fractions of the three test regions will get closer and the bubble distribution will be more uniform across the cross section.
Keywords: Conductivity probes, rod bundles, two-phase flow, void fraction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5563649 Using ALOHA Code to Evaluate CO2 Concentration for Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant
Authors: W. S. Hsu, S. W. Chen, Y. T. Ku, Y. Chiang, J. R. Wang , J. H. Yang, C. Shih
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ALOHA code was used to calculate the concentration under the CO2 storage burst condition for Maanshan nuclear power plant (NPP) in this study. Five main data are input into ALOHA code including location, building, chemical, atmospheric, and source data. The data from Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) and some reports were used in this study. The ALOHA results are compared with the failure criteria of R.G. 1.78 to confirm the habitability of control room. The result of comparison presents that the ALOHA result is below the R.G. 1.78 criteria. This implies that the habitability of control room can be maintained in this case. The sensitivity study for atmospheric parameters was performed in this study. The results show that the wind speed has the larger effect in the concentration calculation.
Keywords: PWR, ALOHA, habitability, Maanshan.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7423648 Dynamic Analysis by a Family of Time Marching Procedures Based On Numerically Computed Green’s Functions
Authors: Delfim Soares Jr.
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In this work, a new family of time marching procedures based on Green’s function matrices is presented. The formulation is based on the development of new recurrence relationships, which employ time integral terms to treat initial condition values. These integral terms are numerically evaluated taking into account Newton-Cotes formulas. The Green’s matrices of the model are also numerically computed, taking into account the generalized-α method and subcycling techniques. As it is discussed and illustrated along the text, the proposed procedure is efficient and accurate, providing a very attractive time marching technique.
Keywords: Dynamics, Time-Marching, Green’s Function, Generalized-α Method, Subcycling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15153647 Unified Power Flow Controller Placement to Improve Damping of Power Oscillations
Authors: M. Salehi, A. A. Motie Birjandi, F. Namdari
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Weak damping of low frequency oscillations is a frequent phenomenon in electrical power systems. These frequencies can be damped by power system stabilizers. Unified power flow controller (UPFC), as one of the most important FACTS devices, can be applied to increase the damping of power system oscillations and the more effect of this controller on increasing the damping of oscillations depends on its proper placement in power systems. In this paper, a technique based on controllability is proposed to select proper location of UPFC and the best input control signal in order to enhance damping of power oscillations. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is demonstrated in IEEE 9 bus power system.
Keywords: Unified power flow controller (UPFC), controllability, small signal analysis, eigenvalues.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19053646 Energy Consumption and Surface Finish Analysis of Machining Ti6Al4V
Authors: Salman Pervaiz, Ibrahim Deiab, Amir Rashid, Mihai Nicolescu, Hossam Kishawy
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Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions impose major threat to global warming potential (GWP). Unfortunately manufacturing sector is one of the major sources that contribute towards the rapid increase in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. In manufacturing sector electric power consumption is the major driver that influences CO2 emission. Titanium alloys are widely utilized in aerospace, automotive and petrochemical sectors because of their high strength to weight ratio and corrosion resistance. Titanium alloys are termed as difficult to cut materials because of their poor machinability rating. The present study analyzes energy consumption during cutting with reference to material removal rate (MRR). Surface roughness was also measured in order to optimize energy consumption.Keywords: Energy Consumption, CO2 Emission, Ti6Al4V.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27843645 Simulation Data Summarization Based on Spatial Histograms
Authors: Jing Zhao, Yoshiharu Ishikawa, Chuan Xiao, Kento Sugiura
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In order to analyze large-scale scientific data, research on data exploration and visualization has gained popularity. In this paper, we focus on the exploration and visualization of scientific simulation data, and define a spatial V-Optimal histogram for data summarization. We propose histogram construction algorithms based on a general binary hierarchical partitioning as well as a more specific one, the l-grid partitioning. For effective data summarization and efficient data visualization in scientific data analysis, we propose an optimal algorithm as well as a heuristic algorithm for histogram construction. To verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods, we conduct experiments on the massive evacuation simulation data.Keywords: Simulation data, data summarization, spatial histograms, exploration and visualization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7533644 Molecular Analysis of Somaclonal Variation in Tissue Culture Derived Bananas Using MSAP and SSR Markers
Authors: Emma K. Sales, Nilda G. Butardo
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The project was undertaken to determine the effects of modified tissue culture protocols e.g. age of culture and hormone levels (2,4-D) in generating somaclonal variation. Moreover, the utility of molecular markers (SSR and MSAP) in sorting off types/somaclones were investigated.
Results show that somaclonal variation is in effect due to prolonged subculture and high 2,4-D concentration. The resultant variation was observed to be due to high level of methylation events specifically cytosine methylation either at the internal or external cytosine and was identified by methylation sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP).Simple sequence repeats (SSR) on the other hand, was able to associate a marker to a trait of interest.
These therefore, show that molecular markers can be an important tool in sorting out variation/mutants at an early stage.
Keywords: Methylation, MSAP, somaclones, SSR, subculture, 2, 4-D.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 37013643 Heterophase Polymerization of Pyrrole and Thienyl End Capped Ethoxylated Nonyl Phenol by Iron (III) Chloride
Authors: Görkem Ülkü, Esin A. Güvel, Nesrin Köken, Nilgün Kızılcan
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This study presents synthesis of novel block copolymers of thienyl end capped ethoxylated nonyl phenol and pyrrole via chemical oxidative polymerization. Ethoxylated nonyl phenol (ENP) was reacted with 2-thiophenecarbonyl chloride in order to synthesize a macromonomer containing thienyl end-group (ENPThC). Then copolymers of ENP-ThC and pyrrole were synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization using iron (III) chloride as an oxidant. ENP-ThC served both as a macromonomer and an emulsifier for pyrrole with poor solubility in water. The synthesized block copolymers (ENP-ThC-b-PPy) were characterized by spectroscopic analysis and the electrical conductivities were investigated with 4-point probe technique.
Keywords: End capped polymer, ethoxylated nonyl phenol, heterophase polymerization, polypyrrole.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25273642 CFD Predictions of Dense Slurry Flow in Centrifugal Pump Casings
Authors: Krishnan V. Pagalthivarthi, Pankaj K. Gupta, Vipin Tyagi, M. R. Ravi
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Dense slurry flow through centrifugal pump casing has been modeled using the Eulerian-Eulerian approach with Eulerian multiphase model in FLUENT 6.1®. First order upwinding is considered for the discretization of momentum, k and ε terms. SIMPLE algorithm has been applied for dealing with pressurevelocity coupling. A mixture property based k-ε turbulence model has been used for modeling turbulence. Results are validated first against mesh independence and experiments for a particular set of operational and geometric conditions. Parametric analysis is then performed to determine the effect on important physical quantities viz. solid velocities, solid concentration and solid stresses near the wall with various operational geometric conditions of the pump.Keywords: Centrifugal pump casing, Dense slurry, Solidsconcentration, Wall shear stress, Pump geometric parameters.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 49143641 Gas Detonation Forming by a Mixture of H2+O2 Detonation
Authors: Morteza Khaleghi Meybodi, Hossein Bisadi
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Explosive forming is one of the unconventional techniques in which, most commonly, the water is used as the pressure transmission medium. One of the newest methods in explosive forming is gas detonation forming which uses a normal shock wave derived of gas detonation, to form sheet metals. For this purpose a detonation is developed from the reaction of H2+O2 mixture in a long cylindrical detonation tube. The detonation wave goes through the detonation tube and acts as a blast load on the steel blank and forms it. Experimental results are compared with a finite element model; and the comparison of the experimental and numerical results obtained from strain, thickness variation and deformed geometry is carried out. Numerical and experimental results showed approximately 75 – 90 % similarity in formability of desired shape. Also optimum percent of gas mixture obtained when we mix 68% H2 with 32% O2.Keywords: Explosive forming, High strain rate, Gas detonation, Finite element analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21523640 Opposition Parties and the Politics of Opposition in Africa: A Critical Analysis
Authors: Wondwosen Teshome B.
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The major aim of this paper is to investigate the opposition politics in Africa. The paper also examines the status and the role, the contributions and the weaknesses of opposition1 political parties in Africa, particularly in transitional democracies that emerged in the 1990s. In Africa, many of the opposition parties appear or become active only during an election, and disappear when the election is over. It is found out that most of the opposition parties in Africa are established around the personalities of individuals, lack internal democracy, suffer from inter-party and intra-party conflicts, have severe shortage of finance, and lack strong base and experience. Their weaknesses also include bad organization and weak connection with the popular constituencies. The paper concludes that most of the weaknesses of the African opposition parties emanate from the incumbents- hostile policies, which are mostly aimed at fragmenting and weakening the opposition groups.
Keywords: Africa, Hybrid regime, Incumbent party, Neopatrimonialsim, Opposition party, Political party, Pseudo-democracy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 47193639 Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools: A Conceptual Framework for Their Use in Building Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change
Authors: Sally Naji, Julie Gwilliam
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Climate change remains a challenging matter for the human and the built environment in the 21st century, where the need to consider adaptation to climate change in the development process is paramount. However, there remains a lack of information regarding how we should prepare responses to this issue, such as through developing organized and sophisticated tools enabling the adaptation process. This study aims to build a systematic framework approach to investigate the potentials that Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment tools (NSA) might offer in enabling both the analysis of the emerging adaptive capacity to climate change. The analysis of the framework presented in this paper aims to discuss this issue in three main phases. The first part attempts to link sustainability and climate change, in the context of adaptive capacity. It is argued that in deciding to promote sustainability in the context of climate change, both the resilience and vulnerability processes become central. However, there is still a gap in the current literature regarding how the sustainable development process can respond to climate change. As well as how the resilience of practical strategies might be evaluated. It is suggested that the integration of the sustainability assessment processes with both the resilience thinking process, and vulnerability might provide important components for addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. A critical review of existing literature is presented illustrating the current lack of work in this field, integrating these three concepts in the context of addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. The second part aims to identify the most appropriate scale at which to address the built environment for the climate change adaptation. It is suggested that the neighborhood scale can be considered as more suitable than either the building or urban scales. It then presents the example of NSAs, and discusses the need to explore their potential role in promoting the adaptive capacity to climate change. The third part of the framework presents a comparison among three example NSAs, BREEAM Communities, LEED-ND, and CASBEE-UD. These three tools have been selected as the most developed and comprehensive assessment tools that are currently available for the neighborhood scale. This study concludes that NSAs are likely to present the basis for an organized framework to address the practical process for analyzing and yet promoting Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change. It is further argued that vulnerability (exposure & sensitivity) and resilience (Interdependence & Recovery) form essential aspects to be addressed in the future assessment of NSA’s capability to adapt to both short and long term climate change impacts. Finally, it is acknowledged that further work is now required to understand impact assessment in terms of the range of physical sectors (Water, Energy, Transportation, Building, Land Use and Ecosystems), Actor and stakeholder engagement as well as a detailed evaluation of the NSA indicators, together with a barriers diagnosis process.Keywords: Adaptive capacity, climate change, NSA tools, resilience, vulnerability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21723638 House Indoor Thermal and Health Conditions with Different Passive Designs
Authors: Bin Su
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According to the Auckland climate, building passive design more focus on improving winter indoor thermal and health conditions. Based on field study data of indoor air temperature and relative humidity close to ceiling and floor of an insulated Auckland townhouse with and without a whole home mechanical ventilation system, this study is to analysis variation of indoor microclimate data of an Auckland townhouse using or not using the mechanical ventilation system to evaluate winter indoor thermal and health conditions for the future house design with a mechanical ventilation system.Keywords: House ventilation, indoor thermal condition, indoor health condition, passive design.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15213637 Modelling of Soil Structure Interaction of Integral Abutment Bridges
Authors: Thevaneyan K. David, John P. Forth
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Integral Abutment Bridges (IAB) are defined as simple or multiple span bridges in which the bridge deck is cast monolithically with the abutment walls. This kind of bridges are becoming very popular due to different aspects such as good response under seismic loading, low initial costs, elimination of bearings, and less maintenance. However the main issue related to the analysis of this type of structures is dealing with soil-structure interaction of the abutment walls and the supporting piles. Various soil constitutive models have been used in studies of soil-structure interaction in this kind of structures by researchers. This paper is an effort to review the implementation of various finite elements model which explicitly incorporates the nonlinear soil and linear structural response considering various soil constitutive models and finite element mesh.Keywords: Constitutive Models, FEM, Integral AbutmentBridges, Soil-structure Interactions
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 47213636 The Human Resources Management for the Temple in Northeastern Thailand
Authors: Routsukol Sunalai
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This research purpose is to study and compare the administration of Buddhist monks at northeastern Thailand. The samples used in the study are the priest in the Northeast by simple random sampling for 190 sampling. The tools used in this study is questioner were created in the 40 question items. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, average, and standard deviation. The research found that the human resources management for the Buddhist monks as a whole is moderate. But it was found that the highest average is the policy followed by the management information. The Buddhist monks aged less than 25 years old with the overall difference was not significant. The priests who are less than 10 years in the monk experience and the priest has long held in the position for 10 years are not different in the significant level.Keywords: Buddhist monks, human resources management, Northeastern Thailand, hotel industry, the administration of Buddhist monks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7353635 Does Practice Reflect Theory? An Exploratory Study of a Successful Knowledge Management System
Authors: Janet L. Kourik, Peter E. Maher
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To investigate the correspondence of theory and practice, a successfully implemented Knowledge Management System (KMS) is explored through the lens of Alavi and Leidner-s proposed KMS framework for the analysis of an information system in knowledge management (Framework-AISKM). The applied KMS system was designed to manage curricular knowledge in a distributed university environment. The motivation for the KMS is discussed along with the types of knowledge necessary in an academic setting. Elements of the KMS involved in all phases of capturing and disseminating knowledge are described. As the KMS matures the resulting data stores form the precursor to and the potential for knowledge mining. The findings from this exploratory study indicate substantial correspondence between the successful KMS and the theory-based framework providing provisional confirmation for the framework while suggesting factors that contributed to the system-s success. Avenues for future work are described.Keywords: Applied KMS, education, knowledge management (KM), KM framework, knowledge management system (KMS).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10373634 Assessing the Antimicrobial Activity of Chitosan Nanoparticles by Fluorescence-Labeling
Authors: Laidson P. Gomes, Cristina T. Andrade, Eduardo M. Del Aguila, Cameron Alexander, Vânia M. F. Paschoalin
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Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide prepared by the N-deacetylation of chitin. In this study, the physicochemical and antibacterial properties of chitosan nanoparticles, produced by ultrasound irradiation, were evaluated. The physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were determined by dynamic light scattering and zeta potential analysis. Chitosan nanoparticles inhibited the growth of E. coli. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were lower than 0.5 mg/mL, and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were similar or higher than MIC values. Confocal laser scanning micrographs (CLSM) were used to observe the interaction between E. coli suspensions mixed with FITC-labeled chitosan polymers and nanoparticles.
Keywords: Chitosan nanoparticles, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, confocal microscopy, antibacterial activity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10773633 Phylogenetic Characterization of Atrazine-Degrading Bacteria Isolated from Agricultural Soil in Eastern Thailand
Authors: Sawangjit Sopid
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In this study sugarcane field soils with a long history of atrazine application in Chachoengsao and Chonburi provinces have been explored for their potential of atrazine biodegradation. For the atrazine degrading bacteria isolation, the soils used in this study named ACS and ACB were inoculated in MS-medium containing atrazine. Six short rod and gram-negative bacterial isolates, which were able to use this herbicide as a sole source of nitrogen, were isolated and named as ACS1, ACB1, ACB3, ACB4, ACB5 and ACB6. From the 16S rDNA nucleotide sequence analysis, the isolated bacteria ACS1 and ACB4 were identified as Rhizobium sp. with 89.1-98.7% nucleotide identity, ACB1 and ACB5 were identified as Stenotrophomonas sp. with 91.0-92.8% nucleotide identity, whereas ACB3 and ACB6 were Klebsiella sp. with 97.4-97.8% nucleotide identity.
Keywords: Atrazine-degrading bacteria, bioremediation, Thai isolate bacteria.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22073632 Mechanical Quadrature Methods and Their Extrapolations for Solving First Kind Boundary Integral Equations of Anisotropic Darcy-s Equation
Authors: Xin Luo, Jin Huang, Chuan-Long Wang
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The mechanical quadrature methods for solving the boundary integral equations of the anisotropic Darcy-s equations with Dirichlet conditions in smooth domains are presented. By applying the collectively compact theory, we prove the convergence and stability of approximate solutions. The asymptotic expansions for the error show that the methods converge with the order O (h3), where h is the mesh size. Based on these analysis, extrapolation methods can be introduced to achieve a higher convergence rate O (h5). An a posterior asymptotic error representation is derived in order to construct self-adaptive algorithms. Finally, the numerical experiments show the efficiency of our methods.
Keywords: Darcy's equation, anisotropic, mechanical quadrature methods, extrapolation methods, a posteriori error estimate.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15653631 Evaluation of Fuzzy ARTMAP with DBSCAN in VLSI Application
Authors: K. A. Sumithradevi, Vijayalakshmi. M. N., Annamma Abraham., Dr. Vasanta
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The various applications of VLSI circuits in highperformance computing, telecommunications, and consumer electronics has been expanding progressively, and at a very hasty pace. This paper describes a new model for partitioning a circuit using DBSCAN and fuzzy ARTMAP neural network. The first step is concerned with feature extraction, where we had make use DBSCAN algorithm. The second step is the classification and is composed of a fuzzy ARTMAP neural network. The performance of both approaches is compared using benchmark data provided by MCNC standard cell placement benchmark netlists. Analysis of the investigational results proved that the fuzzy ARTMAP with DBSCAN model achieves greater performance then only fuzzy ARTMAP in recognizing sub-circuits with lowest amount of interconnections between them The recognition rate using fuzzy ARTMAP with DBSCAN is 97.7% compared to only fuzzy ARTMAP.Keywords: VLSI, Circuit partitioning, DBSCAN, fuzzyARTMAP.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14643630 The Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Lightpipe using a Simulation Software
Authors: M. Paroncini, F. Corvaro, G. Nardini, S. Pistolesi
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A lightpipe is an about 99 percent specular reflective mirror pipe or duct that is used for the transmission of the daylight from the outside into a building. The lightpipes are usually used in the daylighting buildings, in the residential, industrial and commercial sectors. This paper is about the performances of a lightpipe installed in a laboratory (3 m x 2.6 m x 3 m) without windows. The aim is to analyse the luminous intensity distribution for several sky/sun conditions. The lightpipe was monitored during the year 2006. The lightpipe is 1 m long and the diameter of the top collector and of the internal diffuser device is 0.25 m. In the laboratory there are seven illuminance sensors: one external is located on the roof of the laboratory and six internal sensors are connected to a data acquisition system. The internal sensors are positioned under the internal diffusive device at an height of 0.85 m from the floor to simulate a working plane. The numerical data are obtained through a simulation software. This paper shows the comparison between the experimental and numerical results concerning the behavior of the lightpipe.Keywords: Daylighting, Desktop Radiance, Lightpipe.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15743629 Time-Domain Simulations of the Coupled Dynamics of Surface Riding Wave Energy Converter
Authors: Chungkuk Jin, Moo-Hyun Kim, HeonYong Kang
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A surface riding (SR) wave energy converter (WEC) is designed and its feasibility and performance are numerically simulated by the author-developed floater-mooring-magnet-electromagnetics fully-coupled dynamic analysis computer program. The biggest advantage of the SR-WEC is that the performance is equally effective even in low sea states and its structural robustness is greatly improved by simply riding along the wave surface compared to other existing WECs. By the numerical simulations and actuator testing, it is clearly demonstrated that the concept works and through the optimization process, its efficiency can be improved.Keywords: Computer simulation, electromagnetics fully-coupled dynamics, floater-mooring-magnet, optimization, performance evaluation, surface riding, wave energy converter.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6913628 Between Kenzo Tange and Fernando Távora: An ‘Affinitarian’ Architectural Regard
Authors: João Cepeda
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In crafting their way between theory and practice, authors and artists seem to be always immersed in a never-ending process of relating epochs, objects and images. Endless ‘affinities’ emerge, from a somewhat unexplainable (and intimate) magnetic relation. It is through this ‘warburgian’ assessment that two of the most prominent twentieth century modern architects from Japan and Portugal are put into perspective in this paper, focusing on their paths and thinking-practice, and on the research of their personal and professional archives. Moreover, this research especially aims its focus at essaying specifically on the possible ‘affinities’ between two of their most renowned architectural projects: the Kenzo Tange’s (demolished) Villa Seijo project in Tokyo (Japan), and Fernando Távora’s Tennis Pavilion design in Matosinhos (Portugal), respectively, side-by-side – through in-depth fieldwork in the sites, bibliographical and archival research, (unprecedented) material analysis, and a final critical consideration.
Keywords: Tange, Távora, architecture, affinities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 98