Search results for: Microbial activity

Authors: Dae Hwan Kang, Young-IL Jeong, Chung-Wook Chung

Abstract:

pH-sensitive drug targeting using nanoparticles for cancer chemotherapy have been spotlighted in recent decades. Graft copolymer composed of poly (L-histidine) (PHS) and dextran (DexPHS) was synthesized and pH-sensitive nanoparticles were fabricated for pH-responsive drug delivery of doxorubicin (DOX). Nanoparticles of DexPHS showed pH-sensitive changes in particle sizes and drug release behavior, i.e. particle sizes and drug release rate were increased at acidic pH, indicating that DexPHS nanoparticles have pH-sensitive drug delivery potentials. Antitumor activity of DOX-incorporated DexPHS nanoparticles were studied using CT26 colorectal carcinoma cells. Results indicated that fluorescence intensity was higher at acidic pH than basic pH. These results indicated that DexPHS nanoparticles have pH-responsive drug targeting.

Keywords: pH-sensitive polymer, nanoparticles, block copolymer, poly (L-histidine).

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Authors: T. Yuri M. Zagloel, Inaki M. Hakim, A. M. Syarafi

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Manufacturing process has been considered as one of the most important activity in business process. It correlates with productivity and quality of the product so industries could fulfill customer’s demand. With the increasing demand from customer, industries must improve their manufacturing ability such as shorten lead-time and reduce wastes on their process. Lean manufacturing has been considered as one of the tools to waste elimination in manufacturing or service industry. Workforce development is one practice in lean manufacturing that can reduce waste generated from operator such as waste of unnecessary motion. Anthropometric approach is proposed to determine the recommended measurement in operator’s work area. The method will get some dimensions from Indonesia people that related to piston workstation. The result from this research can be obtained new design for the work area considering ergonomic aspect.

Keywords: Adjustable, anthropometric, ergonomic, waste.

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Authors: Peggy S. C. van Teunenbroek

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Recently, philanthropic crowd-funding -the raising of external funding from a large audience via social networks or social media- emerged as a new funding instrument for the Dutch cultural sector. However, such philanthropic crowdfunding in the US and the Netherlands is less successful than any other form of crowdfunding. We argue that social aspects are an important stimulus in philanthropic crowd-funding since previous research has shown that crowdfunding is stimulated by something beyond financial merits. Put simply, crowd-funding seems to be a socially motivated activity. In this paper we focus on the effect of social information, described as information about the donation behavior of previous donors. Using a classroom experiment we demonstrated a positive effect of social information on the donation behavior in crowdfunding campaigns. Our study extends previous research by showing who is affected by social information and why, and highlights how social information can be used to stimulate individuals to donate more to crowdfunding projects.

Keywords: Online donation behavior, philanthropic crowd-funding, social information, social influence, social motivation.

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Authors: Shaikha AlSanad , Andrew Gale, Rodger Edwards

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Buildings and associated construction methods have a significant impact on the environment. As construction activity increases in Kuwait, there is a need to create design and construction strategies which will minimize the environmental impact of new buildings. Green construction is a design philosophy intended to improve the sustainability of construction by the minimization of resource depletion and CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of buildings. This paper presents and discusses the results of a survey that was conducted in Kuwait, with the objective of investigating the awareness of developers and other stakeholders regarding their understanding and use of green construction strategies. The results of the survey demonstrate that whilst there seems to be a reasonable level of awareness amongst the stakeholders, this awareness is not currently well reflected in the design and construction practices actually being applied. It is therefore concluded is there is a pressing need for intervention from Government in order that the use of sustainable green design and construction strategies becomes the norm in Kuwait.

Keywords: Sustainability, Sustainable construction, Green Building, Environmental assessment

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Authors: Astghik R. Sukiasyan

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The semidental sweet maize of Armenian population under drought stress and pollution by some heavy metals (HMs) in sites along the river Debet was studied. Accordingly, the objective of this work was to investigate the antioxidant status of maize plant in order to identify simple and reliable criteria for assessing the degree of adaptation of plants to abiotic stress of drought and HMs. It was found that in the case of removal from the mainstream of the river, the antioxidant status of the plant varies. As parameters, the antioxidant status of the plant has been determined by the activity of malondialdehyde (MDA) and Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP), taking into account the characteristics of natural drought of this region. The possibility of using some indicators which characterized the antioxidant status of the plant was concluded. The criteria for assessing the extent of environmental pollution could be HMs. This fact can be used for the early diagnosis of diseases in the population who lives in these areas and uses corn as the main food.

Keywords: Antioxidant status, maize corn, drought stress, heavy metal.

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Authors: Rashid S S, Alam M Z, Karim M I A, Salleh, M H

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A statistical optimization was studied to design a media composition to produce optimum cellulolytic enzyme where palm oil mill effluent (POME) as a basal medium and filamentous fungus, Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 were used in the liquid state bioconversion(LSB). 2% (w/v) total suspended solid, TSS, of the POME supplemented with 1% (w/v) cellulose, 0.5%(w/v) peptone and 0.02% (v/v) Tween 80 was estimated to produce the optimum CMCase activity of 18.53 U/ml through the statistical analysis followed by the faced centered central composite design(FCCCD). The probability values of cellulose (<0.0011) and peptone (0.0021) indicated the significant effect on the production of cellulase with the determination coefficient (R2) of 0.995.

Keywords: Face centered central composite design (FCCCD), Liquid state bioconversion (LSB), Palm oil mill effluent, Trichoderma reesei RUT C-30.

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Authors: Ehsan Ghanaei, Feridun Esmaeilzadeh, Jamshid Fathi Kaljahi

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In the previous multi-solid models,¤ò approach is used for the calculation of fugacity in the liquid phase. For the first time, in the proposed multi-solid thermodynamic model,γ approach has been used for calculation of fugacity in the liquid mixture. Therefore, some activity coefficient models have been studied that the results show that the predictive Wilson model is more appropriate than others. The results demonstrate γ approach using the predictive Wilson model is in more agreement with experimental data than the previous multi-solid models. Also, by this method, generates a new approach for presenting stability analysis in phase equilibrium calculations. Meanwhile, the run time in γ approach is less than the previous methods used ¤ò approach. The results of the new model present 0.75 AAD % (Average Absolute Deviation) from the experimental data which is less than the results error of the previous multi-solid models obviously.

Keywords: Multi-solid thermodynamic model, PredictiveWilson model, Wax formation.

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Authors: José Carlos Rodríguez, Mario Gómez

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The aim of this paper is to get insight on the nature of university-industry technology transfer (UITT) and technology transfer offices (TTOs) activity at universities in the case of emerging economies. In relation to the process of transferring knowledge/technology in the case of emerging economies, knowledge/technology transfer in these economies are more reactive than in developed economies due to differences in maturity of technologies. It is assumed in this paper that knowledge/technology transfer is a complex phenomenon, and thus the paper contributes to get insight on the nature of UITT and TTOs creation in the case of emerging economies by using a system dynamics model of knowledge/technology transfer in these countries. The paper recognizes the differences between industrialized countries and emerging economies on these phenomena.

Keywords: University-industry technology transfer, technology transfer offices, technology transfer models, emerging economies.

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Authors: Tanja Radu, Cormac Fay, King Tong Lau, Rhys Waite, Dermot Diamond

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The development of wearable sensing technologies is a great challenge which is being addressed by the Proetex FP6 project (www.proetex.org). Its main aim is the development of wearable sensors to improve the safety and efficiency of emergency personnel. This will be achieved by continuous, real-time monitoring of vital signs, posture, activity, and external hazards surrounding emergency workers. We report here the development of carbon dioxide (CO2) sensing boot by incorporating commercially available CO2 sensor with a wireless platform into the boot assembly. Carefully selected commercially available sensors have been tested. Some of the key characteristics of the selected sensors are high selectivity and sensitivity, robustness and the power demand. This paper discusses some of the results of CO2 sensor tests and sensor integration with wireless data transmission

Keywords: Proetex, gas sensing, wireless, wearable sensors, carbon dioxide

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Authors: Shuvasish Roy Choudhury, Rita Mahanta, Aparajita Borkotoki

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Fishes, in general, follow ammonotelic mode of excretion. However, certain stress factors may provoke them to excrete urea. In the present study, the possible role of ureogenesis to avoid accumulation of toxic ammonia under water-restricted condition was tested in Heteropneustes fossilis. A total of hundred fishes were collected and sacrificed. Excretory urea and ammonia were estimated in the water of the aquarium and glutamate dehydrogenase acitivity was measured in the hepatic tissue. During the experimental period, excretory ammonia in Heteropneustes fossilis was found between 931% to 16% above the baseline ammonia and excretory urea was found between 112% to 898% above the baseline urea. A high degree of correlation with r (coefficient of correlation) above 0.9 is observed between excretory ammonia and urea in Heteropneustes fossilis. However, only a moderate degree of correlation is observed between the activity of glutamate dehydrogenase and excretory ammonia and urea.

Keywords: Ammonia, aquarium, glutamate dehydrogenase, urea, ureogenesis.

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Authors: K. Krishna Milan Rao, Nelvin Joseph, Praveen Dwarakanath

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Augmented and Virtual Realties is quickly becoming a hotbed of activity with millions of dollars being spent on R & D and companies such as Google and Microsoft rushing to stake their claim. Augmented reality (AR) is however marching ahead due to the spread of the ideal AR device – the smartphone. Despite its potential, there remains a deep digital divide between the Developed and Developing Countries. The Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) and Hofstede cultural dimensions also predict the behaviour intention to uptake AR in India will be large. This paper takes a quantified approach by collecting 340 survey responses to AR scenarios and analyzing them through statistics. The Survey responses show that the Intention to Use, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Enjoyment dimensions are high among the urban population in India. This along with the exponential smartphone indicates that India is on the cusp of a boom in the AR sector.

Keywords: Mobile augmented reality, technology acceptance model, Hofstede, cultural dimensions, India.

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Authors: Saeed Mian Qaisar, Laurent Fesquet, Marc Renaudin

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Mostly the real life signals are time varying in nature. For proper characterization of such signals, time-frequency representation is required. The STFT (short-time Fourier transform) is a classical tool used for this purpose. The limitation of the STFT is its fixed time-frequency resolution. Thus, an enhanced version of the STFT, which is based on the cross-level sampling, is devised. It can adapt the sampling frequency and the window function length by following the input signal local variations. Therefore, it provides an adaptive resolution time-frequency representation of the input. The computational complexity of the proposed STFT is deduced and compared to the classical one. The results show a significant gain of the computational efficiency and hence of the processing power. The processing error of the proposed technique is also discussed.

Keywords: Level Crossing Sampling, Activity Selection, Adaptive Resolution Analysis, Computational Complexity

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Authors: Henry J. Wattimanela, Udjianna S. Pasaribu, Nanang T. Puspito, Sapto W. Indratno

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Banda Sea Collision Zone (BSCZ) is the result of the interaction and convergence of Indo-Australian plate, Eurasian plate and Pacific plate. This location is located in eastern Indonesia. This zone has a very high seismic activity. In this research, we will calculate the rate (λ) and Mean Square Error (MSE). By this result, we will classification earthquakes distribution in the BSCZ with the point process approach. Chi-square is used to determine the type of earthquakes distribution in the sub region of BSCZ. The data used in this research is data of earthquakes with a magnitude ≥ 6 SR for the period 1964-2013 and sourced from BMKG Jakarta. This research is expected to contribute to the Moluccas Province and surrounding local governments in performing spatial plan document related to disaster management.

Keywords: Banda sea collision zone, earthquakes, mean square error, Poisson distribution, chi-square test.

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Authors: Yuxin Chen, Qingyun Di, C. Dinis da Gama

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In projects like waterpower, transportation and mining, etc., proving up the rock-mass structure and hidden tectonic to estimate the geological body-s activity is very important. Integrating the seismic results, drilling and trenching data, CSAMT method was carried out at a planning dame site in southwest China to evaluate the stability of a deformation. 2D and imitated 3D inversion resistivity results of CSAMT method were analyzed. The results indicated that CSAMT was an effective method for defining an outline of deformation body to several hundred meters deep; the Lung Pan Deformation was stable in natural conditions; but uncertain after the future reservoir was impounded. This research presents a good case study of the fine surveying and research on complex geological structure and hidden tectonic in engineering project.

Keywords: CSAMT Surveying, Deformation Stability.

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Authors: Leila Samiee, Amir Yadegari, Saeedeh Tasharrofi

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In the work presented here, nitrogen-doped graphene materials were synthesized and used as metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) under alkaline conditions. Paraphenylenediamine was used as N precursor. The N-doped graphene was synthesized under hydrothermal treatment at 200°C. All the materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover, for electrochemical evaluation of samples, Rotating Disk electrode (RDE) and Cyclic Voltammetry techniques (CV) were employed. The resulting material exhibits an outstanding catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as well as excellent resistance towards methanol crossover effects, indicating their promising potential as ORR electrocatalysts for alkaline fuel cells.

Keywords: Alkaline fuel cell, graphene, metal-free catalyst, paraphenylenediamine.

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Authors: Maurício Covolan Rosito, Ricardo Melo Bastos

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Software projects are very dynamic and require recurring adjustments of their project plans. These settings can be understood as reconfigurations in the schedule, in the resources allocation and other design elements. Yet, during the planning and execution of a software project, the integration of specific activities in the projects with the activities that take part in the organization-s common activity flow should be considered. This article presents the results from a systematic review of aspects related to software projects- dynamic reconfiguration emphasizing the integration of project management with the organizational flows. A series of studies was analyzed from the year 2000 to the present. The results of this work show that there is a diversity of techniques and strategies for dynamic reconfiguration of software projects-. However, few approaches consider the integration of software project activities with the activities that take part in the organization-s common workflow.

Keywords: Dynamic Reconfiguration, Organizational workflows, Project Management, Systematic Review

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Authors: Yahia M., Laanani I., Benbia S., Hachemi M., Massinissa Y.

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Uterine and oviducal fluids are necessary for capacitation of the spermatozoa and early embryonic development. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of estrous cycle phases (follicular and luteal) on some biological parameters (enzymes, electrolytes and total proteins) in uterine and oviducal secretions of ewes. Oviducal and uterine fluids were collected, diluted and centrifuged. According to our results, concentrations of GPT, G6PDH, total proteins, K and Na were significantly (P <0.05) higher at the luteal phase, however, the levels of aldolase, Mg, Ca and P were significantly (P <0.05) higher at the follicular phase in uterine secretions. While, only oviducal K and Ca were significantly (P<0.05) higher at the follicular phase. Our study revealed the existence of significant cyclic variations for some uterine and oviducal parameters which indicates the effect of ovarian hormones on the components of genital secretions.

Keywords: Biochemical parameters, estrous cycle, ewe, genital secretion.

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Authors: Siva Prasad Darla, C. D. Naiju, K. Annamalai, Y. Upendra Sravan

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In recent years, environment regulation forcing manufactures to consider recovery activity of end-of- life products and/or return products for refurbishing, recycling, remanufacturing/repair and disposal in supply chain management. In this paper, a mathematical model is formulated for single product production-inventory system considering remanufacturing/reuse of return products and rate of return products follows a demand like function, dependent on purchasing price and acceptance quality level. It is useful in decision making to determine whether to go for remanufacturing or disposal of returned products along with newly produced products to satisfy a stationary demand. In addition, a modified genetic algorithm approach is proposed, inspired by particle swarm optimization method. Numerical analysis of the case study is carried out to validate the model.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Production, Remanufacturing.

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Authors: R. Mehra

Abstract:

The measurements of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K using gamma spectrometry and radon concentration and exhalation rates measurements using solid state nuclear track (LR-115, Type-II plastic) detectors are used to asses a first order exposure risk for the persons residing in Fatehbad and Hissar districts of Western Haryana, India. The concentration of Radium, Thorium and Potassium in the soil samples varies from 13.37 Bq m-3 to 24.67 Bq m-3, 34.67 Bq m-3 to 67.34 Bq m-3 and 298.78 Bq m-3 to 405.67 Bq m-3 respectively with average values of 18.78, 47.35 and 361.57 Bq m-3 respectively. The radium equivalent activity (Raeq) calculated for the same soil samples varies from 92.72 Bq m-3 to 140.6 Bq m-3 with an average value of 111.80 Bq m-3. The values of absorbed dose and annual effective dose (indoors and outdoors) are found to vary from 44.18 nGy h-1 to 65.23 nGy h-1, 0.22 mSv y-1 to 0.32 mSv y-1 and 0.05 mSv y-1 to 0.08 mSv y-1 respectively. The radon concentration and exhalation rates have also been reported. The radium equivalent activities in all the soil samples were found to be lower than the limit (370 Bq kg-1) set in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report and the value of Hex in all the samples is less than unity.

Keywords: Gamma ray spectrometry, dose, radon, exhalationrate.

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Authors: Reem Al-Kaabi

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The concept of e-government has begun to spread among countries. It is based on the use of information communication technology (ICT) to fully utilize government resources, as well as to provide government services to citizens, investors and foreigners. Critical factors are the factors that are determined by the senior management of each organization; the success or failure of the organization depends on the effective implementation of critical factors. These factors vary from one organization to another according to their activity, size and functions. It is very important that organizations identify them in order to avoid the risk of implementing initiatives that may fail to work, while simultaneously exploiting opportunities that may succeed in working. The main focus of this paper is to investigate the majority of critical success factors (CSFs) associated with the implementation of e-government projects. This study concentrates on both technical and nontechnical factors. This paper concludes by listing the majority of CSFs relating to successful e-government implementation in Bahrain.

Keywords: Critical success factors, e-government, ICT, implementation, Kingdom of Bahrain.

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Authors: Hyungkeun Jee, Jooyoung Lee, Dowon Hong

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The most common forensic activity is searching a hard disk for string of data. Nowadays, investigators and analysts are increasingly experiencing large, even terabyte sized data sets when conducting digital investigations. Therefore consecutive searching can take weeks to complete successfully. There are two primary search methods: index-based search and bitwise search. Index-based searching is very fast after the initial indexing but initial indexing takes a long time. In this paper, we discuss a high speed bitwise search model for large-scale digital forensic investigations. We used pattern matching board, which is generally used for network security, to search for string and complex regular expressions. Our results indicate that in many cases, the use of pattern matching board can substantially increase the performance of digital forensic search tools.

Keywords: Digital forensics, search, regular expression.

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Authors: Olofintoye Lawrence Kayode, Olorunniyi Omojola Felix

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Schistosomiasis is a vector-borne water-based disease transmitted by Bulinus globosus, causing haematuria in the urine of man, while fascioliasis is a trematode zoonosis infectious transmitted by Lymnaea natalensis causing liver disease in man and animals. Adult Bulinus globosus and Lymnaea natalensis were used for the experiment. Aqueous leaf extract of Ageratum conyzoides and Datura stramonium were prepared into 25, 50, 75, 100, 200 and 400 ppm concentrations. Ten snails of each species were exposed to different concentrations in triplicates, and dechlorinated water was used as control at 24h, 48h, and 72h exposure. The results revealed that 100 ppm of both plants leaves extracts indicated mortality rates between 76.7% and 100% at 24h, 48h, and 72h for both snail species. (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the extract exercised molluscicidal activity to control the snail vector at lethal doses LC50 (66.611-72.021 ppm), CI = 63.083-77.90 ppm and LC90 (92.623-102.350), CI = 87.715-110.12 ppm.

Keywords: Snail, plant leaf, aqueous extract, mortality.

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Authors: Kati Kõrbe Kaare, Ott Koppel

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Transport and logistics are the lifeblood of societies. There is a strong correlation between overall growth in economic activity and growth of transport. The movement of people and goods has the potential for creating wealth and prosperity, therefore the state of transportation infrastructure and especially the condition of road networks is often a governmental priority. The design, building and maintenance of national roads constitute a substantial share of government budgets. Taking into account the magnitude and importance of these investments, the expedience, efficiency and sustainability of these projects are of great public interest. This paper provides an overview of supply chain management principles applied to road construction. In addition, road construction performance measurement systems and ICT solutions are discussed. Road construction in Estonia is analyzed. The authors propose the development of a national performance measurement system for road construction.

Keywords: ICT in road construction, key performance indicators, quality performance measurement, road construction supply chain.

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Authors: Maia Seturi

Abstract:

One of the topical issues for the companies operating in the present-day conditions is making decisions about creation and development of brands. The goal of the research was to study peculiarities of implementation of branding principles using the well-known Georgian mineral water Borjomi as an example, to establish the attitude of consumers to Borjomi at Georgian market, to determine the discovered weaknesses based on the result of the research and to make certain proposals and give recommendations, which would help Georgian companies interested in branding issues to pay proper attention to fundamental principles of branding in their marketing activities. As a result of the marketing research, it was found out that Borjomi adhere to a number of branding principles in its activity, although it has certain shortcomings in that respect. The research method was of exploratory and descriptive nature. In the conclusive part of the work is given sum up research results, draw conclusions and give recommendations. If companies existing in Georgia will take them into consideration, it will help them to better make sense of branding and main aspects of using its principles.

Keywords: Marketing research, brand, branding principles, brand awareness, brand originality.

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Authors: Etty Riani, Endang Gumbira-Said, Kashwar Syamsu, Kustiariyah, Kaseno, Muhammad Reza Cordova

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Sandfish is one of marine biota that has a biomedicine (bioactive compound) potency. People in Gorontalo Province, Indonesia, have been sandfish as an aphrodisiac for men as it is believed that sandfish has a steroid hormone potency. This research aims at studying using the steroid hormone potency from every fraction of sandfish (meat and innards) and its activity of male reproduction (rooster) as an aphrodisiac. Steroid extraction was done using Touchstone and Kasparow method, and then it was utilized to study the effectiveness of bioassay of rooster. This research had five treatments and was done in complete randomized design. Based on Lieberman-Burchard and bioassay test, the author found that sandfish extract contains steroid hormone. Sandfish extract was able to enrich testosterone and cholesterol concentration in blood serum; fastening secondary reproduction characteristics of the rooster, and increasing growth as well as improving rooster’s comb. Therefore, sandfish steroid is potential to be used as an aphrodisiac for men.

Keywords: Aphrodisiac, sandfish, secondary reproduction characteristic, steroid.

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Authors: Y. Hong, H. Y. Hu, A. Sakoda, M. Sagehashi

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Toxic and bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa was exposed to antialgal allelochemical gramine (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 mg·L-1), The effects of gramine on photosynthetic pigments (lipid soluble: chlorophyll a and β-carotene; water soluble: phycocyanin, allophycocyanin, phycoerythrin, and total phycobilins) and absorption spectra were studied in order to identify the most sensitive pigment probe implicating the crucial suppression site on photosynthetic apparatus. The results obtained indicated that all pigment parameters were decreased with gramine concentration increasing and exposure time extending. The above serious bleaching of pigments was also reflected on the scanning results of absorption spectra. Phycoerytherin exhibited the highest sensitivity to gramine added, following by the largest relative decrease. It was concluded that gramine seriously influenced algal photosynthetic activity by destroying photosynthetic pigments and phycoerythrin most sensitive to gramine might be contributed to its placing the outside of phycobilins.

Keywords: Absorption spectra, allelochemical, gramine, Microcystis aeruginosa, photosynthetic pigments.

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Authors: D. Adhikari, R. P. Koirala, B.P. Singh

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A self-association model has been used to understand the concentration dependence of free energy of mixing (GM), heat of mixing (HM), entropy of mixing (SM), activity (a) and microscopic structures, such as concentration fluctuation in long wavelength limit (Scc(0)) and Warren-Cowley short range order parameter ( 1 α )for Cu- Tl molten alloys at 1573K. A comparative study of surface tension of the alloys in the liquid state at that temperature has also been carried out theoretically as function of composition in the light of Butler-s model, Prasad-s model and quasi-chemical approach. Most of the computed thermodynamic properties have been found in agreement with the experimental values. The analysis reveals that the Cu-Tl molten alloys at 1573K represent a segregating system at all concentrations with moderate interaction. Surface tensions computed from different approaches have been found to be comparable to each other showing increment with the composition of copper.

Keywords: Concentration fluctuations, surface tension, thermodynamic properties, Quasi-chemical approximation.

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Authors: Manoela Cabo da Silva, Elton Fernandes, Ricardo Pacheco, Heloisa Pires

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This study examined cointegration and causal relationships between economic growth and regular domestic and international passenger air transport in Brazil. Total passengers embarked and disembarked were used as a proxy for air transport activity and gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for economic development. The test spanned the period from 2000 to 2015 for domestic passenger traffic and from 1995 to 2015 for international traffic. The results confirm the hypothesis that there is cointegration between passenger traffic series and economic development, showing a bi-directional Granger causal relationship between domestic traffic and economic development and unidirectional influence by economic growth on international passenger air transport demand. Variance decomposition of the series showed that domestic air transport was far more important than international transport to promoting economic development in Brazil.

Keywords: Air passenger transport, cointegration, economic growth, GDP, granger causality.

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Authors: M. Rezki, A. Belaidi

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This paper deals with a method of learning to solve a real problem in biomedical engineering from a technical study of muscle fatigue. Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles (viewpoint: anatomical and physiological). EMG is used as a diagnostics tool for identifying neuromuscular diseases, assessing low-back pain and muscle fatigue in general. In order to study the EMG signal for detecting fatigue in a muscle, we have taken a real problem which touches the tramway conductor the handle bar. For the study, we have used a typical autonomous platform in order to get signals at real time. In our case study, we were confronted with complex problem to do our experiments in a tram. This type of problem is recurring among students. To teach our students the method to solve this kind of problem, we built a similar system. Through this study, we realized a lot of objectives such as making the equipment for simulation, the study of detection of muscle fatigue and especially how to manage a study of biomedical looking.

Keywords: EMG, health platform, conductor’s tram, muscle fatigue.

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Authors: Wang Lin, Li Zhiqiang

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the cooperative learning behavior pattern based on the data of students' movement. The study firstly reviewed the cooperative learning theory and its research status, and briefly introduced the k-means clustering algorithm. Then, it used clustering algorithm and mathematical statistics theory to analyze the activity rhythm of individual student and groups in different functional areas, according to the movement data provided by 10 first-year graduate students. It also focused on the analysis of students' behavior in the learning area and explored the law of cooperative learning behavior. The research result showed that the cooperative learning behavior analysis method based on movement data proposed in this paper is feasible. From the results of data analysis, the characteristics of behavior of students and their cooperative learning behavior patterns could be found.

Keywords: Behavior pattern, cooperative learning, data analyze, K-means clustering algorithm.

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