Search results for: assessment competence

Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

Abstract:

Construction industry, as one of the main contributor in depletion of natural resources, influences climate change. This paper discusses incremental and evolutionary development of the proposed models for optimization of a life-cycle analysis to explicit strategy for evaluation systems. The main categories are virtually irresistible for introducing uncertainties, uptake composite structure model (CSM) as environmental management systems (EMSs) in a practice science of evaluation small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The model simplified complex systems to reflect nature systems’ input, output and outcomes mode influence “framework measures” and give a maximum likelihood estimation of how elements are simulated over the composite structure. The traditional knowledge of modeling is based on physical dynamic and static patterns regarding parameters influence environment. It unified methods to demonstrate how construction systems ecology interrelated from management prospective in procedure reflects the effect of the effects of engineering systems to ecology as ultimately unified technologies in extensive range beyond constructions impact so as, - energy systems. Sustainability broadens socioeconomic parameters to practice science that meets recovery performance, engineering reflects the generic control of protective systems. When the environmental model employed properly, management decision process in governments or corporations could address policy for accomplishment strategic plans precisely. The management and engineering limitation focuses on autocatalytic control as a close cellular system to naturally balance anthropogenic insertions or aggregation structure systems to pound equilibrium as steady stable conditions. Thereby, construction systems ecology incorporates engineering and management scheme, as a midpoint stage between biotic and abiotic components to predict constructions impact. The later outcomes’ theory of environmental obligation suggests either a procedures of method or technique that is achieved in sustainability impact of construction system ecology (SICSE), as a relative mitigation measure of deviation control, ultimately.

Keywords: Sustainability, constructions ecology, composite structure model, design structure matrix, environmental impact assessment, life cycle analysis, climate change.

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Authors: Maria Giannopoulou

Abstract:

Open urban public spaces comprise an important element for the development of social, cultural and economic activities of the population in the modern cities. These spaces are also considered regulators of the region-s climate conditions, providing better thermal, visual and auditory conditions which can be optimized by the application of appropriate strategies of bioclimatic design. The paper focuses on the analysis and evaluation of the recent unification of the open spaces in the centre of Xanthi, a medium – size city in northern Greece, from a bioclimatic perspective, as well as in the creation of suitable methodology. It is based both on qualitative observation of the interventions by fieldwork research and assessment and on quantitative analysis and modeling of the research area.

Keywords: Bioclimatic principles, Quantitative analysis, Sustainability, TownScope III, Urban open spaces

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Authors: Klara Krizova, Rudolf Hela

Abstract:

The paper reflects current state of popularization of static elasticity modulus of concrete. This parameter is undoubtedly very important for designing of concrete structures, and very often neglected and rarely determined before designing concrete technology itself. The paper describes assessment and comparison of four mix designs with almost constant dosage of individual components. The only difference is area of origin of small size fraction of aggregate 0/4. Development of compressive strength and static elasticity modulus at the age of 7, 28 and 180 days were observed. As the experiment showed, designing of individual components and their quality are the basic factor influencing elasticity modulus of current concrete.

Keywords: Concrete, Aggregate, Strength, Elasticity Modulus, Quality

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Authors: Kati Manskinen, Risto Pöykiö, Hannu Nurmesniemi

Abstract:

In an assessment of the extractability of metals in green liquor dregs from the chemical recovery circuit of semichemical pulp mill, extractable concentrations of heavy metals in artificial gastric fluid were between 10 (Ni) and 717 (Zn) times higher than those in artificial sweat fluid. Only Al (6.7 mg/kg; d.w.), Ni (1.2 mg/kg; d.w.) and Zn (1.8 mg/kg; d.w.) showed extractability in the artificial sweat fluid, whereas Al (730 mg/kg; d.w.), Ba (770 mg/kg; d.w.) and Zn (1290 mg/kg; d.w.) showed clear extractability in the artificial gastric fluid. As certain heavy metals were clearly soluble in the artificial gastric fluid, the careful handling of this residue is recommended in order to prevent the penetration of green liquor dregs across the human gastrointestinal tract.

Keywords: Dregs, non-process elements, pulping, waste.

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Authors: Doaa Hegazy, Joachim Denzler

Abstract:

SoftBoost is a recently presented boosting algorithm, which trades off the size of achieved classification margin and generalization performance. This paper presents a performance evaluation of SoftBoost algorithm on the generic object recognition problem. An appearance-based generic object recognition model is used. The evaluation experiments are performed using a difficult object recognition benchmark. An assessment with respect to different degrees of label noise as well as a comparison to the well known AdaBoost algorithm is performed. The obtained results reveal that SoftBoost is encouraged to be used in cases when the training data is known to have a high degree of noise. Otherwise, using Adaboost can achieve better performance.

Keywords: SoftBoost algorithm, AdaBoost algorithm, Generic object recognition.

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Authors: Luis M. Villar, Olga M. Alegre

Abstract:

Finding effective ways of improving university quality assurance requires, as well, a retraining of the staff. This article illustrates an Online Programme of Excellence Model (OPEM), based on the European quality assurance model, for improving participants- formative programme standards. The results of applying this OPEM indicate the necessity of quality policies that support the evaluators- competencies to improve formative programmes. The study concludes by outlining how faculty and agency staff can use OPEM for the internal and external quality assurance of formative programmes.

Keywords: Formative assessment, Online faculty excellence program, Teaching competencies, University quality assurance.

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Authors: Jana Petrů, Tomáš Zlámal, Robert Čep, Lenka Čepová

Abstract:

This article is focused on the thermal spray coating machining issue. Those are irreplaceable in many areas of nowadays industrial branches such as aerospace industry, mostly thanks to their excellent qualities in production and also in renovation of machinery parts. The principals of thermal spraying and elementary diversification are described in introduction. Plasma coating method of composite materials – cermets – is described more thoroughly. The second part describes thermal spray coating machining and grinding in detail. This part contains suggestion of appropriate grinding tool and assessment of cutting conditions used for grinding a given part. Conclusion describes a problem which occurred while grinding a cermet thermal spray coating with a specially designed grindstone and a way to solve this problem.

Keywords: Coating, aerospace, plasma, grinding.

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Authors: Cheng-Yu Tsai, Li-Wei Liu, Ming-Tsang Wu

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This study sought to determine whether there were relationships existed among leisure satisfaction, self-esteem, and spiritual wellness. Four hundred survey instruments were distributed, and 334 effective instruments were returned, for an effective rate of 83.5%. The participants were recruited from a purposive sampling that subjects were at least 60 years of age and retired in Tainan City, Taiwan. Three instruments were used in this research: Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS), Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Spirituality Assessment Scale (SAS). The collected data were analyzed statistically. The findings of this research were as follows: 1. There is significantly correlated between leisure satisfaction and spiritual wellness. 2. There is significantly correlated between leisure satisfaction and self-esteem. 3. There is significantly correlated between spiritual wellness and self-esteem.

Keywords: Leisure satisfaction, spiritual wellness, self-esteem.

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Authors: Shirong Li, Huan Yan

Abstract:

To help the client to select a competent agent construction enterprise (ACE), this study aims to investigate the selection standards by using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and build an evaluation mathematical model with Grey Relational Analysis (GRA). According to the outputs of literature review, four orderly levels are established within the model, taking the consideration of various agent construction models in practice. Then, the process of applying FAHP and GRA is discussed in detailed. Finally, through a case study, this paper illustrates how to apply these methods in getting the weights of each standard and the final assessment result.

Keywords: agent construction enterprise, agent constructionmodel, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, grey relational analysis

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Authors: Juha Kettunen

Abstract:

This study presents a project that tests and adjusts active European learning and teaching methods in Indonesian universities to increase their external impact on enterprises and other organizations; it also assesses the implementation of the Erasmus+ projects funded by the European Union. The project is based on the approach of innovation pedagogy that responds to regional development needs and integrates applied research and development projects into education to create capabilities for students to participate in development work after graduation. The assessment of the Erasmus+ project resulted in many improvements that can be made to achieve higher quality and innovativeness. The results of this study are useful for those who want to improve the applied research and development projects of higher education institutions.

Keywords: Higher education, innovations, project management, networks.

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Authors: Douangmala Kousnana, Toru Takahashi

Abstract:

In recent years, the number of natural disasters in the world has occurred frequently. After a strong earthquake occurs, multiple disasters due to tsunami, strong aftershocks or heavy snow can possible to occur. To prevent a secondary disaster and to save a life, the quick inspection of the damaged building is necessary. This paper investigated on a possibility of post earthquake quick inspection of damaged building by ordinary people which used the European Macro- Seismic Scale 1998 (EMS-98).

Keywords: Quick Assessment, EMS-98, Ordinary People, Post-Earthquake

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Authors: M. S. M. El-Bady

Abstract:

Water quality and heavy metals pollution of the Damietta Nile Branch at Damietta governorate were investigated in the current work. Fourteen different sampling points were selected along the Damietta Nile branch from Ras EL-Bar (sample 1) to Sheremsah (sample 14). Physical and chemical parameters and the concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Fe, Al, Hg, Pb and Zn were investigated for water quality assessment of Damietta Nile Branch at Damietta Governorate. Most of the samples show that the water is suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. All locations of samples near the sea are unsuitable water but the samples in the south direction away from the sea are suitable or good water for drinking and irrigation.

Keywords: Water quality indices, Damietta Governorate, Nile River, pollution.

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Authors: Padmakumar S., Vivek Agarwal, Kallol Roy

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A new observer based fault detection and diagnosis scheme for predicting induction motors- faults is proposed in this paper. Prediction of incipient faults, using different variants of Kalman filter and their relative performance are evaluated. Only soft faults are considered for this work. The data generation, filter convergence issues, hypothesis testing and residue estimates are addressed. Simulink model is used for data generation and various types of faults are considered. A comparative assessment of the estimates of different observers associated with these faults is included.

Keywords: Extended Kalman Filter, Fault detection and diagnosis, Induction motor model, Unscented Kalman Filter

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Authors: Wasim Orfali, Hesham Tolba

Abstract:

This research investigates the acoustical characteristics of Al-Madinah Holy Mosque. Extensive field measurements were conducted in different locations of Al-Madinah Holy Mosque to characterize its acoustic characteristics. The acoustical characteristics are usually evaluated by the use of objective parameters in unoccupied rooms due to practical considerations. However, under normal conditions, the room occupancy can vary such characteristics due to the effect of the additional sound absorption present in the room or by the change in signal-to-noise ratio. Based on the acoustic measurements carried out in Al-Madinah Holy Mosque with and without occupancy, and the analysis of such measurements, the existence of acoustical deficiencies has been confirmed.

Keywords: Worship sound, Al-Madinah Holy Mosque, mosque acoustics, speech intelligibility.

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Authors: Frantisek Bozek, Alena Bumbova, Eduard Bakos

Abstract:

Paper is dealing with vulnerability concerning elements of hydrological structures and elements of technological equipments which are acceptable for groundwater resources. The vulnerability assessment stems from the application of the register of hazards and a potential threat to individual water source elements within each type of hazard. The proposed procedure is pattern for assessing the risks of disturbance, damage, or destruction of water source by the identified natural or technological hazards and consequently for classification of these risks in relation to emergency water supply. Using of this procedure was verified on selected groundwater resource in particular region, which seems to be as potentially useful for crisis planning system.

Keywords: Hazard, Hydrogeological Structure, Elements, Index, Sensitivity, Water Source, Vulnerability

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Authors: Mahmud Fotuhi-Firuzabad, Saeed Afshar

Abstract:

This paper presents the results of a preventive maintenance application-based study and modeling of failure rates in breakers of electrical distribution systems. This is a critical issue in the reliability assessment of a system. In the analysis conducted in this paper, the impacts of failure rate variations caused by a preventive maintenance are examined. This is considered as a part of a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) application program. A number of load point reliability indices is derived using the mathematical model of the failure rate, which is established using the observed data in a distribution system.

Keywords: Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), failure rate, preventive maintenance (PM), Distribution System Reliability.

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Authors: Esyin Chew, Haydn Blackey

Abstract:

There are increasingly plagiarism offences for students in higher education in the digital educational world. On the other hand, various and competitive online assessment and plagiarism detection tools are available in the market. Taking the University of Glamorgan as a case study, this paper describes and introduces an institutional journey on electronic plagiarism detection to inform the initial experience of an innovative tool and method which could be further explored in the future research. The comparative study and system workflow for e-plagiarism detection tool are discussed. Benefits for both academics and students are also presented. Electronic plagiarism detection tools brought great benefits to both academics and students in Glamorgan. On the other hand, the debates raised in such initial experience are discussed.

Keywords: Educational Technology, Plagiarism detection, Turnitin

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Authors: M.A. Calin, S.V. Parasca, M.R. Calin, D. Savastru, D. Manea

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The goal of this paper is to examine the effects of laser radiation on the skin wound healing using infrared thermography as non-invasive method for the monitoring of the skin temperature changes during laser treatment. Thirty Wistar rats were used in this study. A skin lesion was performed at the leg on all rats. The animals were exposed to laser radiation (λ = 670 nm, P = 15 mW, DP = 16.31 mW/cm2) for 600 s. Thermal images of wound were acquired before and after laser irradiation. The results have demonstrated that the tissue temperature decreases from 35.5±0.50°C in the first treatment day to 31.3±0.42°C after the third treatment day. This value is close to the normal value of the skin temperature and indicates the end of the skin repair process. In conclusion, the improvements in the wound healing following exposure to laser radiation have been revealed by infrared thermography.

Keywords: skin, wound, laser, thermal image

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Authors: Linh Thi Truc Doan, Yousef Amer, Sang-Heon Lee, Phan Nguyen Ky Phuc

Abstract:

During the last few decades, with the high-speed upgrade of electronic products, electronic waste (e-waste) has become one of the fastest growing wastes of the waste stream. In this context, more efforts and concerns have already been placed on the treatment and management of this waste. To mitigate their negative influences on the environment and society, it is necessary to establish appropriate strategies for e-waste management. Hence, this paper aims to review and analysis some useful strategies which have been applied in several countries to handle e-waste. Future perspectives on e-waste management are also suggested. The key findings found that, to manage e-waste successfully, it is necessary to establish effective reverse supply chains for e-waste, and raise public awareness towards the detrimental impacts of e-waste. The result of the research provides valuable insights to governments, policymakers in establishing e-waste management in a safe and sustainable manner.

Keywords: E-waste, e-waste management, life cycle assessment, recycling regulations.

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Authors: E. Halawa

Abstract:

Solar water heating (SWH) systems are gaining popularity in ASEAN in the midst of increasing number of affluent population in society and environmental concerns from seemingly unchanged reliance on fossil-based fuels. The penetration of these systems and technologies into ASEAN markets is a welcome development; however there is a need for the method of assessment of their thermal performances. This paper discusses the reasons for this need and a suitable method for thermal performance evaluation of SWH systems in ASEAN. The paper also calls on research to be focused on the establishment of reliable data to be entered into the performance rating software. The establishment of accredited solar systems testing facilities can help boost the competitiveness of ASEAN solar industry.

Keywords: ASEAN, solar industry, solar water heating systems, thermal performance rating.

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Authors: Amin Almasi

Abstract:

Reliability assessment and risk analysis of rotating machine rotors in various overload and malfunction situations present challenge to engineers and operators. In this paper a new analytical method for evaluation of rotor under large deformation is addressed. Model is presented in general form to include also composite rotors. Presented simulation procedure is based on variational work method and has capability to account for geometric nonlinearity, large displacement, nonlinear support effect and rotor contacting other machine components. New shape functions are presented which capable to predict accurate nonlinear profile of rotor. The closed form solutions for various operating and malfunction situations are expressed. Analytical simulation results are discussed

Keywords: Large Deformation, Nonlinear, Rotor.

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Authors: Farag Azzedin, Ahmad Ridha, Ali Rizvi

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Trust management is one of the drawbacks in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) system. Lack of centralized control makes it difficult to control the behavior of the peers. Reputation system is one approach to provide trust assessment in P2P system. In this paper, we use fuzzy logic to model trust in a P2P environment. Our trust model combines first-hand (direct experience) and second-hand (reputation)information to allow peers to represent and reason with uncertainty regarding other peers' trustworthiness. Fuzzy logic can help in handling the imprecise nature and uncertainty of trust. Linguistic labels are used to enable peers assign a trust level intuitively. Our fuzzy trust model is flexible such that inference rules are used to weight first-hand and second-hand accordingly.

Keywords: P2P Systems; Trust, Reputation, Fuzzy Logic.

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Authors: Sebastian Tschöpe, Konja Knüppel, Peter Nyhuis

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In times when product life cycles are decreasing, while market demands are increasing, manufacturing enterprises are confronted with the challenge of more frequent and more complex ramp-ups. Thus it becomes obvious that ramp-up management is going to be a topic enterprises have to focus on in the future. Since each ramp-up is unique concerning the product, the process, the technology, the circumstances and the coaction of these four factors, the knowledge of the ramp-up situation and the current ramp-up capability of the enterprise are fundamental requirements for the subsequent improvement of the ramp-up capability of the production system.

In this article a methodology is going to be presented which can be used to define typical production ramp-up situations, to identify the current ramp-up capability of a production system and to improve it with respect to a specific situation. Additionally there will be a description of the functionality of a software-tool developed based on this methodology.

Keywords: Assessment methodology, ramp-up, ramp-up capability, software-tool.

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Authors: R. Sadykova

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This article analyses the peculiarities of Japan’s policy toward the countries of Central Asia. The increasing role of Central Asia in the system of international relations engendered an objective need for understanding of the policy of leading states, including Japan, in the region in the twenty-first century. The purpose of the study is to investigate the peculiarities of the formation and development of Japan policy in Central Asia and to identify the problems and prospects of Japan’s policy toward the countries of the region on the basis of experts’ opinions. In this article, the method of analysis of the situation and a systematic method were used. Prognostic methods, the collective expert assessment and scenarios were used in the study to determine the prospects of Japan’s policy toward the countries of Central Asia.

Keywords: Japan, Central Asia, the Eurasian concept, ‘Central Asia plus Japan’ Dialogue.

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Authors: Ahmed Zaafouri, Mounir Sayadi, Farhat Fnaiech

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In this paper, we present a method for edge segmentation of satellite images based on 2-D Phase Congruency (PC) model. The proposed approach is composed by two steps: The contextual non linear smoothing algorithm (CNLS) is used to smooth the input images. Then, the 2D stretched Gabor filter (S-G filter) based on proposed angular variation is developed in order to avoid the multiple responses in the previous work. An assessment of our proposed method performance is provided in terms of accuracy of satellite image edge segmentation. The proposed method is compared with others known approaches.

Keywords: Edge segmentation, Phase congruency model, Satellite images, Stretched Gabor filter

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Authors: Nedeljko Cvejic, Artur Łoza, David Bull, Nishan Canagarajah

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In this paper, we present a novel objective nonreference performance assessment algorithm for image fusion. It takes into account local measurements to estimate how well the important information in the source images is represented by the fused image. The metric is based on the Universal Image Quality Index and uses the similarity between blocks of pixels in the input images and the fused image as the weighting factors for the metrics. Experimental results confirm that the values of the proposed metrics correlate well with the subjective quality of the fused images, giving a significant improvement over standard measures based on mean squared error and mutual information.

Keywords: Fusion performance measures, image fusion, non-reference quality measures, objective quality measures.

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou

Abstract:

The decades after the end of the second War provide evidence that infrastructures investments contibute to economic development, on terms of productivity and income growth. In order to force productivity and increase competitiveness the financing of large transport infrastructure projects are on the top of the agenda in strategic planning process. Such a decision may take form some days to some decades and stakeholders as well as decision makers need tools in order to estimate the economic impact on natioanl economy of such an investment. The key question in such decisions is if the effects caused by the new infrastructure could be able to boost economic development on one hand, and create new jobs and activities on the other. This paper deals with the review of estimation of the mega transport infrastructure projects economic effects in economy.

Keywords: Economic impact, transport infrastructure, strategic planning.

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Authors: Mostafa Alinezhad, Mehrdad Ahmadi Kamarposhti

Abstract:

According to the increasing utilization in power system, the transmission lines and power plants often operate in stability boundary and system probably lose its stable condition by over loading or occurring disturbance. According to the reasons that are mentioned, the prediction and recognition of voltage instability in power system has particular importance and it makes the network security stronger.This paper, by considering of power system contingencies based on the effects of them on Mega Watt Margin (MWM) and maximum loading point is focused in order to analyse the static voltage stability using continuation power flow method. The study has been carried out on IEEE 14-Bus Test System using Matlab and Psat softwares and results are presented.

Keywords: Contingency, Continuation Power Flow, Static Voltage Stability, Voltage Collapse.

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

Abstract:

Association between insulin resistance (IR) and hematological parameters has long been a matter of interest. Within this context, body mass index (BMI), red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets were involved in this discussion. Parameters related to platelets associated with IR may be useful indicators for the identification of IR. Platelet indices such as mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW) and plateletcrit (PCT) are being questioned for their possible association with IR. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between platelet (PLT) count as well as PLT indices and the surrogate indices used to determine IR in morbid obese (MO) children. A total of 167 children participated in the study. Three groups were constituted. The number of cases was 34, 97 and 36 children in the normal BMI, MO and metabolic syndrome (MetS) groups, respectively. Sex- and age-dependent BMI-based percentile tables prepared by World Health Organization were used for the definition of morbid obesity. MetS criteria were determined. BMI values, homeostatic model assessment for IR (HOMA-IR), alanine transaminase-to-aspartate transaminase ratio (ALT/AST) and diagnostic obesity notation model assessment laboratory (DONMA-lab) index values were computed. PLT count and indices were analyzed using automated hematology analyzer. Data were collected for statistical analysis using SPSS for Windows. Arithmetic mean and standard deviation were calculated. Mean values of PLT-related parameters in both control and study groups were compared by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc tests to determine whether a significant difference exists among the groups. The correlation analyses between PLT as well as IR indices were performed. Statistically significant difference was accepted as p-value < 0.05. Increased values were detected for PLT (p < 0.01) and PCT (p > 0.05) in MO group compared to those observed in children with N-BMI. Significant increases for PLT (p < 0.01) and PCT (p < 0.05) were observed in MetS group in comparison with the values obtained in children with N-BMI (p < 0.01). Significantly lower MPV and PDW values were obtained in MO group compared to the control group (p < 0.01). HOMA-IR (p < 0.05), DONMA-lab index (p < 0.001) and ALT/AST (p < 0.001) values in MO and MetS groups were significantly increased compared to the N-BMI group. On the other hand, DONMA-lab index values also differed between MO and MetS groups (p < 0.001). In the MO group, PLT was negatively correlated with MPV and PDW values. These correlations were not observed in the N-BMI group. None of the IR indices exhibited a correlation with PLT and PLT indices in the N-BMI group. HOMA-IR showed significant correlations both with PLT and PCT in the MO group. All of the three IR indices were well-correlated with each other in all groups. These findings point out the missing link between IR and PLT activation. In conclusion, PLT and PCT may be related to IR in addition to their identities as hemostasis markers during morbid obesity. Our findings have suggested that DONMA-lab index appears as the best surrogate marker for IR due to its discriminative feature between morbid obesity and MetS.

Keywords: Children, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, plateletcrit, platelet indices.

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Authors: Cencen Li, Shaoying Liu, Shin Nakajima

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Specification-based testing enables us to detect errors in the implementation of functions defined in given specifications. Its effectiveness in achieving high path coverage and efficiency in generating test cases are always major concerns of testers. The automatic test cases generation approach based on formal specifications proposed by Liu and Nakajima is aimed at ensuring high effectiveness and efficiency, but this approach has not been empirically assessed. In this paper, we present an experiment for assessing Liu-s testing approach. The result indicates that this testing approach may not be effective in some circumstances. We discuss the result, analyse the specific causes for the ineffectiveness, and describe some suggestions for improvement.

Keywords: experiment, functional scenario, specification-based, testing.

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