Search results for: professional training level

Authors: Kaniknun Photchong, Phusit Phukamchanoad

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to study the people’s level of participation in activities of the community, their satisfaction towards the community, the attachment they have to the community, factors that influence the attachment, as well as the characteristics of the relationships of military families’ of the Royal Guards community of Dusit District. The method used was non-probability sampling by quota sampling according to people’s age. The determined age group was 18 years or older.

One set of a sample group was done per family. The questionnaires were conducted by 287 people. Snowball sampling was also used by interviewing people of the community, starting from the Royal Guards Community’s leader, then by 20 of the community’s well-respected persons. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, such as arithmetic mean and standard deviation, as well as by inferential statistics, such as Independent - Samples T test (T-test), One-Way ANOVA (F-test), Chi-Square. Descriptive analysis according to the structure of the interview content was also used. The results of the research is that the participation of the population in the Royal Guards Community in various activities is at a medium level, with the average participation level during Mother’s and Father’s Days. The people’s general level of satisfaction towards the premises of the Royal Guards Community is at the highest level.

The people were most satisfied with the transportation within the community and in contacting with people from outside the premises. The access to the community is convenient and there are various entrances. The attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community in general and by each category is at a high level. The feeling that the community is their home rated the highest average. Factors that influence the attachment of the people of the Royal Guards Community are age, status, profession, income, length of stay in the community, membership of social groups, having neighbors they feel close and familiar with, and as well as the benefits they receive from the community. In addition, it was found that people that participate in activities have a high level of positive relationship towards the attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community. The satisfaction of the community has a very high level of positive relationship with the attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community.

The characteristics of the attachment of military families’ is that they live in big houses that everyone has to protect and care for, starting from the leader of the family as well as all members. Therefore, they all love the community they live in. The characteristics that show the participation of activities within the community and the high level of satisfaction towards the premises of the community will enable the people to be more attached to the community. The people feel that everyone is close neighbors within the community, as if they are one big family.

Keywords: Activities, Attachment, Community, Royal Guards, Satisfaction.

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Authors: Abed Sami Qawasme, Sameer Khader

Abstract:

This paper describes the effects of photovoltaic voltage changes on Multi-level inverter (MLI) due to solar irradiation variations, and methods to overcome these changes. The irradiation variation affects the generated voltage, which in turn varies the switching angles required to turn-on the inverter power switches in order to obtain minimum harmonic content in the output voltage profile. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve harmonics elimination equations of eleven level inverters with equal and non-equal dc sources. After that artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm is proposed to generate appropriate set of switching angles for MLI at any level of input dc sources voltage causing minimization of the total harmonic distortion (THD) to an acceptable limit. MATLAB/Simulink platform is used as a simulation tool and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analyses are carried out for output voltage profile to verify the reliability and accuracy of the applied technique for controlling the MLI harmonic distortion. According to the simulation results, the obtained THD for equal dc source is 9.38%, while for variable or unequal dc sources it varies between 10.26% and 12.93% as the input dc voltage varies between 4.47V nd 11.43V respectively. The proposed ANN algorithm provides satisfied simulation results that match with results obtained by alternative algorithms.

Keywords: Multi level inverter, genetic algorithm, artificial neural network, total harmonic distortion.

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Authors: Kyriaki G. Giota, George Kleftaras

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to briefly review the opportunities that social media present to counselors and psychologists. Particular attention was given to understanding some of the more important common risks inherent in social media and the potential ethical dilemmas which may arise for counselors and psychologists who embrace them in their practice. Key considerations of issues pertinent to an online presence such as multiple relationships, visibility and privacy, maintaining ethical principles and professional boundaries are being discussed.

Keywords: Social Media, Counseling, Risks, Ethics.

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Authors: Lorena Alemán de la Garza, Marcela Georgina Gómez-Zermeño

Abstract:

This paper presents the SolarSPELL case study that aims to generate information on the use of indicators that help evaluate the pedagogical quality of a digital library resources. SolarSPELL is a solar-powered digital library with WiFi connectivity. It offers a variety of open educational resources selected for their potential for the digital transformation of educational practices and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States. The case study employed a quantitative methodology and the research instrument was applied to 55 teachers, directors and librarians. The results indicate that it is possible to strengthen the pedagogical quality of open educational resources, through actions focused on improving temporal and technological parameters. They also reveal that users believe that SolarSPELL improves the teaching-learning processes and motivates the teacher to improve his or her development. This study provides valuable information on a tool that supports teaching-learning processes and facilitates connectivity with renewable energies that improves the teacher training in active methodologies for ecosystem learning.

Keywords: Educational innovation, digital library, pedagogical quality, solar energy, teacher training, sustainable development.

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Authors: Svjetlana Letinić, Katarina Štavlić

Abstract:

Given that entrepreneurship is a very significant factor of regional development, it is necessary to approach systematically the development with measures of regional politics. According to international classification The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS II), there are three regions in Croatia. The indicators of entrepreneurial activities on the national level of Croatia are analyzed in the paper, taking into consideration the results of referent research. The level of regional development is shown based on the analysis of entrepreneurs- operations. The results of the analysis show a very unfavorable situation in entrepreneurial activities on the national level of Croatia. The origin of this situation is to be found in the surroundings with an expressed inequality of regional development, which is caused by the non-existence of a strategically directed regional policy. In this paper recommendations which could contribute to the reduction of regional inequality in Croatia, have been made.

Keywords: indicators of entrepreneurial activity, regional development, regional inequity.

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Authors: S. Chatterji, S. L. Shimi

Abstract:

As wind, solar and other clean and green energy sources gain popularity worldwide, engineers are seeking ways to make renewable energy systems more affordable and to integrate them with existing ac power grids. In the present paper an attempt has been made for integrating the PV arrays to the smart nano grid using an artificial intelligent (AI) based solar powered cascade multilevel inverter. The AI based controller switching scheme has been used for improving the power quality by reducing the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the multi-level inverter output voltage.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligent (AI), Solar Powered Multi-level Inverter, Smart nano grid, Total Harmonic Distortion (THD).

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Authors: Gioacchino Lavanco, Elisabetta Di Giovanni, Floriana Romano

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to study in depth some methodological aspects of social interventation, focusing on desirable passage from social maternage method to peer advocacy method. For this purpose, we intend analyze social and organizative components, that affect operator-s professional action and that are part of his psychological environment, besides the physical and social one. In fact, operator-s interventation should not be limited to a pure supply of techniques, nor to take shape as improvised action, but “full of good purposes".

Keywords: Advocacy, Education, Relationship, Social Mandate.

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Authors: Ying Wang

Abstract:

From the perspective of industrial structure coordination and based on an explicit definition for the connotation of industrial structure coordination, the synergetic coefficients are used to measure the coordination degree between three industries' input structure and output structure, and then the efficacy function method is employed to comprehensively evaluate the level of China-s industrial structure optimization. It is showed that Chinese industrial structure presented a "v-shaped" variation tendency between 1996 and 2008, and its industrial structure adjustment got obvious achievements after 2003, with the industrial structure optimization level increasing continuously. However in 2009, the level of China-s industrial structure optimization declined sharply due to the decreasing contribution degree of value added structure and energy structure coordination and the lower coordination degree of value added structure and capital structure.

Keywords: China's industrial structure, Coordination degree, Efficacy function, Synergetic coefficients

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Authors: Malin Isaksson

Abstract:

Teaching French as a foreign language usually implies teaching French literature, especially in higher education. Training university students in literary reading in a foreign language requires addressing several aspects at the same time: the (foreign) language, the poetic language, the aesthetic aspects of the studied works, and various interpretations of them. A pilot study sought to test a teaching model that would support students in learning to perform competent readings and short analyses of French literary works, in a rather independent manner. This shared practice paper describes the use of a flipped classroom method in two French literature courses, a campus course and an online course, and suggests that the teaching model may provide efficient tools for teaching literary reading and analysis in a foreign language. The teaching model builds on a high level of student activity and focuses on attentive reading, meta-perspectives such as theoretical concepts, individual analyses by students where said concepts are applied, and group discussions of the studied texts and of possible interpretations.

Keywords: Shared practice, flipped classroom, literature in foreign language studies, teaching literature analysis.

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Authors: M.Suganthi, M.Madheswaran

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel approach to finding a priori interesting regions in mammograms. In order to delineate those regions of interest (ROI-s) in mammograms, which appear to be prominent, a topographic representation called the iso-level contour map consisting of iso-level contours at multiple intensity levels and region segmentation based-thresholding have been proposed. The simulation results indicate that the computed boundary gives the detection rate of 99.5% accuracy.

Keywords: Breast Cancer, Mammogram, and Segmentation.

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Authors: S. Selvaperumal, M. S. Sivagamasundari

Abstract:

In this paper, selective harmonic elimination pulse width modulation technique is employed to eliminate lower order harmonics like third by determination of solving non-linear equations. The cascaded H-bridge five level inverter is driven by the Peripheral Interface Controlled (PIC) Microcontroller 16F877A. The performance of single phase cascaded H-bridge five level inverter with relevant to harmonics and a variety of switches with solar cell as its input source is simulated by employing MATLAB/Simulink. A hardware model is developed to verify the performance of the developed system.

Keywords: Multilevel inverter, cascaded H-Bridge multilevel inverter, total harmonic distortion, selective harmonic elimination pulse width modulation, MATLAB.

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Authors: Walaa Khalaf, Calogero Pace, Manlio Gaudioso

Abstract:

We present an Electronic Nose (ENose), which is aimed at identifying the presence of one out of two gases, possibly detecting the presence of a mixture of the two. Estimation of the concentrations of the components is also performed for a volatile organic compound (VOC) constituted by methanol and acetone, for the ranges 40-400 and 22-220 ppm (parts-per-million), respectively. Our system contains 8 sensors, 5 of them being gas sensors (of the class TGS from FIGARO USA, INC., whose sensing element is a tin dioxide (SnO2) semiconductor), the remaining being a temperature sensor (LM35 from National Semiconductor Corporation), a humidity sensor (HIH–3610 from Honeywell), and a pressure sensor (XFAM from Fujikura Ltd.). Our integrated hardware–software system uses some machine learning principles and least square regression principle to identify at first a new gas sample, or a mixture, and then to estimate the concentrations. In particular we adopt a training model using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach with linear kernel to teach the system how discriminate among different gases. Then we apply another training model using the least square regression, to predict the concentrations. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed multiclassification and regression scheme is effective in the identification of the tested VOCs of methanol and acetone with 96.61% correctness. The concentration prediction is obtained with 0.979 and 0.964 correlation coefficient for the predicted versus real concentrations of methanol and acetone, respectively.

Keywords: Electronic nose, Least square regression, Mixture ofgases, Support Vector Machine.

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Authors: H. Varol

Abstract:

Although students’ interest level in pursuing Computer Science and related degrees are lower than previous decade, fundamentals of computers, specifically introductory level programming courses are either listed as core or elective courses for a number of non-computer science majors. Universities accommodate these non-computer science majored students either via creating separate sections of a class for them or simply offering mixed-body classroom solutions, in which both computer science and non-computer science students take the courses together. In this work, we demonstrated how we handle introductory level programming course at Sam Houston State University and also provide facts about our observations on students’ success during the coursework. Moreover, we provide suggestions and methodologies that are based on students’ major and skills to overcome the deficiencies of mix-body type of classes.

Keywords: Computer science, non-computer science major, programming, programming education.

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Authors: Sónia Alves

Abstract:

During the last few decades in the academic field, the debate has increased on the effects of social geography on the opportunities of socioeconomic integration. On one hand, it has been discussed how the contents of the urban structure and social geography affect not only the way people interact, but also their chances of social and economic integration. On the other hand, it has also been discussed how the urban structure is also constrained and transformed by the action of social actors. Without questioning the powerful influence of structural factors, related to the logic of the production system, labor markets, education and training, the research has shown the role played by place of residence in shaping individual outcomes such as unemployment. In the context of this debate the importance of territory of residence with respect to the problem of unemployment has been highlighted. Although statistics of unemployment have already demonstrated the unequal incidence of the phenomenon in social groups, the issue of uneven territorial impact on the phenomenon at intra-urban level remains relatively unknown. The purpose of this article is to show and to interpret the spatial patterns of unemployment in the city of Porto using GIS (Geographic Information System - GIS) technology. Under this analysis the overlap of the spatial patterns of unemployment with the spatial distribution of social housing, allows the discussion of the relationship that occurs between these patterns and the reasons that might explain the relative immutability of socioeconomic problems in some neighborhoods.

Keywords: Unemployment, area effects, urban planning, Porto.

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Authors: Soofiyan Atar, Adil Shaikh, Sahil Rajpurkar, Pragnesh Bhalala, Aniket Desai, Irfan Siddavatam

Abstract:

Deep reinforcement learning (deep RL) algorithms leverage the symbolic power of complex controllers by automating it by mapping sensory inputs to low-level actions. Deep RL eliminates the complex robot dynamics with minimal engineering. Deep RL provides high-risk involvement by directly implementing it in real-world scenarios and also high sensitivity towards hyperparameters. Tuning of hyperparameters on a pneumatic quadruped robot becomes very expensive through trial-and-error learning. This paper presents an automated learning control for a pneumatic quadruped robot using sample efficient deep Q learning, enabling minimal tuning and very few trials to learn the neural network. Long training hours may degrade the pneumatic cylinder due to jerk actions originated through stochastic weights. We applied this method to the pneumatic quadruped robot, which resulted in a hopping gait. In our process, we eliminated the use of a simulator and acquired a stable gait. This approach evolves so that the resultant gait matures more sturdy towards any stochastic changes in the environment. We further show that our algorithm performed very well as compared to programmed gait using robot dynamics.

Keywords: model-based reinforcement learning, gait stability, supervised learning, pneumatic quadruped

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Authors: Gioacchino Lavanco, Elisabetta Di Giovanni, Floriana Romano

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to study in depth some methodological aspects of social interventation, focusing on desirable passage from social maternage method to peer advocacy method. For this purpose, we intend analyze social and organizative components, that affect operator's professional action and that are part of his psychological environment, besides the physical and social one. In fact, operator's interventation should not be limited to a pure supply of techniques, nor to take shape as improvised action, but “full of good purposes".

Keywords: Advocacy, education, relationship, social mandate.

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Authors: Dasom Kim, Chen Liu, Myungsu Lim, Soo-Hyeon Jeon, Byeoung Kug Jeon, Kee-Young Kwahk, Namgyu Kim

Abstract:

Recently, numerous documents including large volumes of unstructured data and text have been created because of the rapid increase in the use of social media and the Internet. Usually, these documents are categorized for the convenience of users. Because the accuracy of manual categorization is not guaranteed, and such categorization requires a large amount of time and incurs huge costs. Many studies on automatic categorization have been conducted to help mitigate the limitations of manual categorization. Unfortunately, most of these methods cannot be applied to categorize complex documents with multiple topics because they work on the assumption that individual documents can be categorized into single categories only. Therefore, to overcome this limitation, some studies have attempted to categorize each document into multiple categories. However, the learning process employed in these studies involves training using a multi-categorized document set. These methods therefore cannot be applied to the multi-categorization of most documents unless multi-categorized training sets using traditional multi-categorization algorithms are provided. To overcome this limitation, in this study, we review our novel methodology for extending the category of a single-categorized document to multiple categorizes, and then introduce a survey-based verification scenario for estimating the accuracy of our automatic categorization methodology.

Keywords: Big Data Analysis, Document Classification, Text Mining, Topic Analysis.

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Authors: Kongrit Jittangthammagul, Sakesun Yampinij, Thapanee Endoo, Nattapong Kramwong

Abstract:

The study entitled “The Construction of Interactive Computer Multimedia Instruction on Basic Japanese Vocabulary" was aimed: 1) To construct the interactive computer multimedia instruction on Basic Japanese Vocabulary, 2) To find out multimedia-s quality, 3) To examine the student-s satisfaction and 4) To study the learning achievement in Basic Japanese vocabulary. The sampling group used in this study was composed of 40 1st year student in Educational Communications and Technology Department, Faculty of Industrial Education and Technology, King Mongkut-s University of Technology Thonburi, in the academic year 2553 B.E. (2010). According to research results, we found that 1). The quality assessment by 3 mass media experts was at 4.72 on average or at high level. 2) In terms of contents, the evaluation by 3 experts was at 4.81 on average or at high level. 3) In terms of achievement, there was a statistical significance between before and after the treatment at the .05 level. 4) The satisfaction of students towards the interactive computer multimedia Instruction on “Basic Japanese Vocabulary" was 4.35 on average, or at high level.

Keywords: Interactive Computer Multimedia on Basic Japanese Vocabulary, Learning Achievement, Quality

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Authors: Stamatios A. Theocharis, George A. Tsihrintzis

Abstract:

One of the most important factors for the success of e-government is training and preparing the workforce of the public sector. As changes and innovation in the public sector progress at a very slow pace and more slowly than in the private sector, issues related to human resources require special care. This is because the workforce will eventually seize the opportunities of the technological solutions used in e-Government. Thus, the central administration should provide employees with continuous and focused training not only on new technologies but also on a wide range of subjects and also improve interdepartmental interaction.

To achieve all this, new methods and training tools need to be implemented in addition to assessment of the employees. In this spirit, we propose the development of an educational platform with user personalization features. We propose the development of this platform using Moodle as the basic tool. Incorporating a personalization mechanism is very important since different employees have different backgrounds, education levels, computer skills, or different capability to develop further. Key features of the proposed platform include, besides typical e-learning tools, communities organized in order to exchange experiences and knowledge, groups of users based on certain criteria, automatic evaluation of users and potential self-education and self-assessment. In its fully developed form, this platform can be part of a more comprehensive knowledge management system for the public sector.

Keywords: e-Government, civil employees education, education technologies.

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Authors: Zohreh Bang Tavakoli, Shuktika Chatterjee

Abstract:

This study investigates the fiscal policy impact on countries’ economic growth in developing countries with a different external debt level. The fiscal policy effectiveness has been re-emphasized in the global financial crisis of 2008 with the external debt as its new contemporary driver. Different theories have proposed the economic consequence of fiscal policy, specifically for developing countries. However, fiscal policy literature is lacking research regarding the fiscal policy’s effectiveness with the external debt’s contributions through comprehensive study. Also, high levels of external debt will influence economic growth. Through foreign resources and channel of investment in which high level of debt decreases the amount of foreign investment in the developing countries. The finding of this study suggests that only countries with a low external debt level and appropriate fiscal policies and good quality institutions can gain the proper quantity and quality of foreign investors in which will help the economic growth. For this, this research is examining the impact of fiscal policy on developing countries' economic growth in the situation of different external debt levels.

Keywords: fiscal policy, external debt, gross domestic product, developing countries

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Authors: Kutub Uddin Chisty, Md. Ashraful Islam, Shahjalal Misuk

Abstract:

Chittagong is the commercial capital of Bangladesh. Here Agrabad is one of the most commercial activity centers of Chittagong. Due to many light industry and commercial land use, Agrabad to CEPZ road at Agrabad is the only major road of Chittagong port city which encompasses a huge number of vehicles every day. It has many junctions which distribute traffic flow in different roads. In these junctions vehicles gather at some conflict point to create traffic jam and make the performance of the road downward. This study is parallel focused on the existing level of service with traffic volume, capacity, and speed by traffic survey. After all of these analyses the performance of the road is determined with finding the factors that influences the performance.

Keywords: Level of service, Traffic volume, Speed, Influences factors.

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Authors: Zh.Mingaleva, K.Balkova

Abstract:

Innovations and innovative activity get the increasing value for successful financial and economic activity of the countries and regions. The level of innovative sphere development determines place of a country or a region in world economy and forms a basis of steady economic growth. This article is devoted to different aspects of organization of the national economic safety in the conditions of innovative development, its problems, risks and threats. Economy can be considered as aspiring for transition to innovative way only with finding of economic safety: financial independence, power stability and technological progress. There are statistical indicators, defining the level of economic security and factors, threatening economic safety of the state. The research is based on the analysis of factors and indicators in conditions of innovative development. The paper is illustrated by the examples of possible estimated system of the economic safety level.

Keywords: Economic safety, innovative activity, innovative development, innovative economy

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Authors: Pinto F., Dario C., Selvaggi M., Vicenti A.

Abstract:

Two group of kids (“Safflower cake" and “Control") were fed ad libitum with pelleted total mixed rations. After a 7-days adaptation period, the diet of the “Safflower cake" group were supplemented with 20% of safflower cake. The kids were slaughtered at 96 days of age. Dietary safflower cake did not affect the growth traits of kids. In addition, kids fed experimental diet showed a lower feed intake and consequently a better feed conversion ratio in comparison to the “Control" group. The use of safflower decreased the level of SFA and increased the level of MUFA in kid meat. The level of PUFA was higher in lipid extracted from animals feeding “Control“ diet even if the UFA level was lower. Furthermore, lipid extracted from animals feeding control diet contained more ω6 fatty acids in comparison to kids feeding experimental diet while the opposite trend was observed for the level of ω3 fatty acids. The ω6 to ω3 ratio was significantly affected by diet and in particular this ratio decreased in meat of kids fed experimental diet. Our results indicate that intramuscular fatty acid composition of kid meat can be improved from a human health perspective by inclusion of safflower cake in the diet.

Keywords: Cake, fatty acids, meat, safflower.

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Authors: Sanjaykumar R. Patel, Parth R. Kayastha

Abstract:

α-lactose monohydrate is widely used in the pharmaceutical industries as an inactive substance that acts as a vehicle or a medium for a drug or other active substance. It is a byproduct of dairy industries, and the recovery of lactose from whey not only boosts the improvement of the economics of whey utilization but also causes a reduction in pollution as lactose recovery can reduce the BOD of whey by more than 80%. In the present study, levels of process parameters were kept as initial lactose concentration (30-50% w/w), sonication amplitude (20-40%), sonication time (2-6 hours), and crystallization temperature (10-20 ^oC) for the recovery of lactose in ultrasound assisted cooling crystallization. In comparison with cooling crystallization, the use of ultrasound enhanced the lactose recovery by 39.17% (w/w). The parameters were optimized for the lactose recovery using Taguchi Method. The optimum conditions found were initial lactose concentration at level 3 (50% w/w), amplitude of sonication at level 2 (40%), the sonication time at level 3 (6 hours), and crystallization temperature at level 1 (10 °C). The maximum recovery was found to be 85.85% at the optimum conditions. Sonication time and the initial lactose concentration were found to be significant parameters for the lactose recovery.

Keywords: Crystallization, Taguchi method, ultrasound, lactose.

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Authors: D. Ščeulovs, E. Gaile-Sarkane

Abstract:

Latvia is the fourth in the world by means of broadband internet speed. The total number of internet users in Latvia exceeds 70% of its population. The number of active mailboxes of the local internet e-mail service Inbox.lv accounts for 68% of the population and 97.6% of the total number of internet users. The Latvian portal Draugiem.lv is a phenomenon of social media, because 58.4 % of the population and 83.5% of internet users use it. A majority of Latvian company profiles are available on social networks, the most popular being Twitter.com. These and other parameters prove the fact consumers and companies are actively using the Internet. 

However, after the authors in a number of studies analyzed how enterprises are employing the e-environment, namely, e-environment tools, they arrived to the conclusions that are not as flattering as the aforementioned statistics. There is an obvious contradiction between the statistical data and the actual studies. As a result, the authors have posed a question: Why are entrepreneurs resistant to e-tools? In order to answer this question, the authors have addressed the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The authors analyzed each phase and determined several factors affecting the use of e-environment, reaching the main conclusion that entrepreneurs do not have a sufficient level of e-literacy (digital literacy). 

The authors employ well-established quantitative and qualitative methods of research: grouping, analysis, statistic method, factor analysis in SPSS 20  environment etc. 

The theoretical and methodological background of the research is formed by, scientific researches and publications, that from the mass media and professional literature, statistical information from legal institutions as well as information collected by the author during the survey.

Keywords: E-environment, e-environment tools, technology acceptance model, factors.

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Authors: Κonstantinos Kalovrektis, Chryssanthi Palazi

Abstract:

Schools today face ever-increasing demands in their attempts to ensure that students are well equipped to enter the workforce and navigate a complex world. Research indicates that computer technology can help support learning, implementation of various experiments or learning games, and that it is especially useful in developing the higher-order skills of critical thinking, observation, comprehension, implementation, comparison, analysis and active attention to activities such as research, field work, simulations and scientific inquiry. The ICT in education supports the learning procedure by enabling it to be more flexible and effective, create a rich and attractive training environment and equip the students with knowledge and potential useful for the competitive social environment in which they live. This paper presents the design, the development, and the results of the evaluation analysis of an interactive educational game which using real electric vehicles - toys (material) on a toy race track. When the game starts each student selects a specific vehicle toy. Then students are answering questionnaires in the computer. The vehicles' speed is related to the percentage of right answers in a multiple choice questionnaire (software). Every question has its own significant value depending of the different level of questionnaire. Via the developed software, each right or wrong answers in questionnaire increase or decrease the real time speed of their vehicle toys. Moreover the rate of vehicle's speed increase or decrease depends on the difficulty level of each question. The aim of the work is to attract the student’s interest in a learning process and also to improve their scores. The developed real time game was tested using independent populations of students of age groups: 8-10, 11-14, 15-18 years. Standard educational and statistical analysis tools were used for the evaluation analysis of the game. Results reveal that students using the developed real time control game scored much higher (60%) than students using a traditional simulation game on the same questionnaire. Results further indicate that student's interest in repeating the developed real time control gaming was far higher (70%) than the interest of students using a traditional simulation game.

Keywords: Real time game, sensor, learning games, LabVIEW

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Authors: Mediha B. Sılaydın Aydın, Emine D. Kahraman

Abstract:

One of the important impacts of climate change is the sea level rise. Turkey is a peninsula, so the coastal areas of the country are threatened by the problem of sea level rise. Therefore, the urbanized coastal areas are highly vulnerable to climate change. At the aim of enhancing spatial resilience of urbanized areas, this question arises: What should be the priority intervention subject in the urban planning process for a given city. To answer this question, by focusing on the problem of sea level rise, this study aims to determine spatial vulnerability typologies and levels of Turkey coastal cities based on morphological, physical and social characteristics. As a method, spatial vulnerability of coastal cities is determined by two steps as level and type. Firstly, physical structure, morphological structure and social structure were examined in determining spatial vulnerability levels. By determining these levels, most vulnerable areas were revealed as a priority in adaptation studies. Secondly, all parameters are also used to determine spatial typologies. Typologies are determined for coastal cities in order to use as a base for urban planning studies. Adaptation to climate change is crucial for developing countries like Turkey so, this methodology and created typologies could be a guide for urban planners as spatial directors and an example for other developing countries in the context of adaptation to climate change. The results demonstrate that the urban settlements located on the coasts of the Marmara Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean respectively, are more vulnerable than the cities located on the Black Sea’s coasts to sea level rise.

Keywords: Climate change, coastal cities, sea level rise, urban land use planning, vulnerability.

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Authors: Jiajun Wang, Xiaoge Li

Abstract:

The purpose of the aspect-level sentiment analysis task is to identify the sentiment polarity of aspects in a sentence. Currently, most methods mainly focus on using neural networks and attention mechanisms to model the relationship between aspects and context, but they ignore the dependence of words in different ranges in the sentence, resulting in deviation when assigning relationship weight to other words other than aspect words. To solve these problems, we propose an aspect-level sentiment analysis model that combines a multi-channel convolutional network and graph convolutional network (GCN). Firstly, the context and the degree of association between words are characterized by Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and self-attention mechanism. Besides, a multi-channel convolutional network is used to extract the features of words in different ranges. Finally, a convolutional graph network is used to associate the node information of the dependency tree structure. We conduct experiments on four benchmark datasets. The experimental results are compared with those of other models, which shows that our model is better and more effective.

Keywords: Aspect-level sentiment analysis, attention, multi-channel convolution network, graph convolution network, dependency tree.

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Authors: Jianlin Li, Jizhen Li

Abstract:

Transnational corporations (TNCs) are playing a major role in global R&D, not only through activities in their home countries but also increasingly abroad. However, the process of R&D offshoring is not yet discussed thoroughly. Based on in-depth case study on Agilent China Communications Operation, this paper presents a stage model for theorizing the R&D offshoring process. This stage model outlines 5 maturity levels of organization and the offshoring process: Subsidiary team, Mirror team, Independent team, Mirror sector and the Independent sector (from software engineering point of view, it is similar to the local team's capability level of maturity model). Moreover, the paper gives a detailed discussion on the relevant characteristics, as well as the ability/responsibility of transfer, priorities and the corresponding organization structure. It also gives the characteristics and key points of different level-s R&D offshoring implementation using actual team practice.

Keywords: Internationalization of R&D, R&D offshoring process, Multinational Corporations, Organization Level.

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Authors: Abdallah F. Abd El-Mohsen, Ahmed A. Abdelsamee, Nouby M. Ghazaly

Abstract:

Engine exhaust noise is considered one of the largest sources of vehicle exterior noise. Further reduction of noise from the vehicle exhaust system will be required, as the vehicle exterior noise regulations become stricter. Therefore, the present study has been carried out to illustrate the role of engine operating parameters and exhaust system construction factors on exhaust noise emitted. The measurements carried out using different exhaust systems, which are mainly used in today’s vehicle. The effect of engine speed on the spectra level of exhaust noise is recorded at engine speeds of 900 rpm, 1800 rpm, 2700, rpm 3600 rpm and 4500 rpm. The results indicate that the increase of engine speed causes a significant increase in the spectrum level of exhaust noise. The increase in the number of the outlet of the expansion chamber also reduces the overall level of exhaust noise.

Keywords: Exhaust system, engine speed, expansion chamber.

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