Search results for: education program.

Authors: I. Fahi, T. Remmal, F. El Kamel, B. Ayoub

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The treatment of the geotechnical database of the region of Casablanca was difficult to achieve due to the heterogeneity of the nomenclature of the lithological formations composing its soil. It appears necessary to harmonize the nomenclature of the facies and to produce cartographic documents useful for construction projects and studies before any investment program. To achieve this, more than 600 surveys made by the Public Laboratory for Testing and Studies (LPEE) in the agglomeration of Casablanca, were studied. Moreover, some local observations were made in different places of the metropolis. Each survey was the subject of a sheet containing lithological succession, macro and microscopic description of petrographic facies with photographic illustration, as well as measurements of geomechanical tests. In addition, an X-ray diffraction analysis was made in order to characterize the surficial formations of the region.

Keywords: Casablanca, guidebook, petrography, soil.

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Authors: P. Vaculík, P. Kaňovský

Abstract:

The following article presents Technology Centre of Ostrava (TCO) in the Czech Republic describing the structure and main research areas realized by the project ENET - Energy Units for Utilization of non Traditional Energy Sources. More details are presented from the research program dealing with transformation, accumulation and distribution of electric energy. Technology Centre has its own energy mix consisting of alternative sources of fuel sources that use of process gases from the storage part and also the energy from distribution network. The article will be focus on the properties and application possibilities SiC semiconductor devices for power semiconductor converter for photovoltaic systems.

Keywords: SiC, Si, Technology Centre of Ostrava, Photovoltaic Systems, DC/DC Converter, Simulation.

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Authors: Luis M. Villar, Olga M. Alegre

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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: Wan Hasrulnizzam Wan Mahmood, Mohd Razali Muhamad, Nurulain Mat Tahar

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This paper is prepared to provide a review of how an automotive manufacturer, ISUZU HICOM Malaysia Co. Ltd. sustained the supply chain management after business process reengineering in 2007. One of the authors is currently undergoing industrial attachment and has spent almost 6 months researching in the production and operation management system of the company. This study was carried out as part of the tasks in the attachment program. The result shows that delivery lateness and outsourcing are the main barriers that affected productivity. From the gap analysis, the authors found that new business process operation had improved suppliers delivery performance.

Keywords: Supply Chain Management, Business Process Re- Engineering, Delivery, Outsourcing, Automotive Manufacturer.

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Authors: Peter Clutterbuck, Terry Rowlands, Owen Seamons

Abstract:

In this paper we describe one critical research program within a complex, ongoing multi-year project (2010 to 2014 inclusive) with the overall goal to improve the learning outcomes for first year undergraduate commerce/business students within an Information Systems (IS) subject with very large enrolment. The single research program described in this paper is the analysis of student attitudes and decision making in relation to the availability of formative assessment feedback via Web-based real time conferencing and document exchange software (Adobe Connect). The formative assessment feedback between teaching staff and students is in respect of an authentic problem-based, team-completed assignment. The analysis of student attitudes and decision making is investigated via both qualitative (firstly) and quantitative (secondly) application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with a two statistically-significant and separate trial samples of the enrolled students. The initial qualitative TPB investigation revealed that perceived self-efficacy, improved time-management, and lecturer-student relationship building were the major factors in shaping an overall favorable student attitude to online feedback, whilst some students expressed valid concerns with perceived control limitations identified within the online feedback protocols. The subsequent quantitative TPB investigation then confirmed that attitude towards usage, subjective norms surrounding usage, and perceived behavioral control of usage were all significant in shaping student intention to use the online feedback protocol, with these three variables explaining 63 percent of the variance in the behavioral intention to use the online feedback protocol. The identification in this research of perceived behavioral control as a significant determinant in student usage of a specific technology component within a virtual learning environment (VLE) suggests that VLEs could now be viewed not as a single, atomic entity, but as a spectrum of technology offerings ranging from the mature and simple (e.g., email, Web downloads) to the cutting-edge and challenging (e.g., Web conferencing and real-time document exchange). That is, that all VLEs should not be considered the same. The results of this research suggest that tertiary students have the technological sophistication to assess a VLE in this more selective manner.

Keywords: Formative assessment feedback, virtual learning environment, theory of planned behavior, perceived behavioral control.

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Authors: Won-Sub Lee, Sung-Gaun Kim

Abstract:

Rotational Smart Lighting Control System can supply the quantity of lighting which is required to run plants by rotating few LED and Fluorescent instead of that are used in the existing plant factories.The initial installation of the existing plants factory is expensive, so in order to solve the problem with smart lighting control system was developed. The beam required intensity for the growth of crops, Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density(PPFD)is calculated; and the number of LED, are installed on the blades, set; using the Lighting Simulation Program.Relux, it is able to confirm that the difference of the beam intensity between the center and the outer of lighting system when the lighting device is rotating.

Keywords: Plant Factory, Lighting Control System, Rotational Lighting System, Lighting Equipment

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Authors: Sari Myréen

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of multisensory elements in enhancing and facilitating foreign language acquisition among adult students in a language classroom. The use of multisensory elements enables the creation of a student-centered classroom, where the focus is on individual learner’s language learning process, perceptions and motivation. Multisensory language learning is a pedagogical approach where the language learner uses all the senses more effectively than in a traditional in-class environment. Language learning is facilitated due to multisensory stimuli which increase the number of cognitive connections in the learner and take into consideration different types of learners. A living lab called Multisensory Space creates a relaxed and receptive state in the learners through various multisensory stimuli, and thus promotes their natural foreign language acquisition. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected in two questionnaire inquiries among the Finnish students of a higher education institute at the end of their basic French courses in December 2014 and 2016. The inquiries discussed the effects of multisensory elements on the students’ motivation to study French as well as their learning outcomes. The results show that the French classes in the Multisensory Space provide the students with an encouraging and pleasant learning environment, which has a positive impact on their motivation to study the foreign language as well as their language learning outcomes.

Keywords: Foreign language acquisition, foreign language learning, higher education, multisensory learning, pedagogical approach, transcultural learning.

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Authors: Murat Öztok, Nesrin Özdener

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The aim of this study is to determine the basic information and communication technology (ICT) skills that may be needed by students studying in the 8th grade of the primary education in their cooperative project works implemented via the Internet. Within the scope of the study, the curriculum used for European Computer Driving License (ECDL) and the curriculum used in Turkey are also compared in terms of the ability to use ICT, which is aimed to be provided to the students. The research population of the study, during which the pre test – post test control group experimental model was used, consisted of 40 students from three different schools. In the first stage of the study, the skills that might be needed by students for their cooperative project works implemented via the Internet were determined through examination of the completed Comenious, e – twinning and WorldLinks projects. In the second stage of the study, the curriculums of the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MEB) and ECDL were evaluated by seven different teachers in line with these skills. Also in this study the ECDL and MEB curriculums were compared in terms of capability to provide the skills to implement cooperative projects via the Internet. In line with the findings of the study, the skills that might be needed by students to implement cooperative projects via the Internet were outlined, and existence of a significant difference was established in favor of the ECDL curriculum upon comparison of both curriculums in accordance with this outline (U = 50,500; p <0,05). The findings of the study also suggested that the students had considerable deficiencies in implementation of cooperative projects via the Internet without the ICT infrastructure.

Keywords: Collaboration Projects, Comenius, Curriculum, ICT.

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Authors: Phoevos K. Koukouvinis, John S. Anagnostopoulos, Dimitris E. Papantonis

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This work is an attempt to use the standard Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics methodology for the simulation of the complex unsteady, free-surface flow in a rotating Turgo impulse water turbine. A comparison of two different geometries was conducted. The SPH method due to its mesh-less nature is capable of capturing the flow features appearing in the turbine, without diffusion at the water/air interface. Furthermore results are compared with a commercial CFD package (Fluent®) and the SPH algorithm proves to be capable of providing similar results, in much less time than the mesh based CFD program. A parametric study was also performed regarding the turbine inlet angle.

Keywords: Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, Mesh-lessmethods, Impulse turbines, Turgo turbine.

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Authors: Siripen Yiamjanya, Kevin Wongleedee

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Food safety is an important concern for holiday makers in foreign and unfamiliar tourist destinations. In fact, risk from food in these tourist destinations has an influence on tourist perception. This risk can potentially affect physical health and lead to an inability to pursue planned activities. The objective of this paper was to compare foreign tourists- demographics including gender, age and education level, with the level of perceived risk towards food safety. A total of 222 foreign tourists during their stay at Khao San Road in Bangkok were used as the sample. Independent- samples ttest, analysis of variance, and Least Significant Difference or LSD post hoc test were utilized. The findings revealed that there were few demographic differences in level of perceived risk among the foreign tourists. The post hoc test indicated a significant difference among the old and the young tourists, and between the higher and lower level of education. Ranks of tourists- perceived risk towards food safety unveiled some interesting results. Tourists- perceived risk of food safety in established restaurants can be ranked as i) cleanliness of dining utensils, ii) sanitation of food preparation area, and iii) cleanliness of food seasoning and ingredients. Whereas, the tourists- perceived risk of food safety in street food and drink can be ranked as i) cleanliness of stalls and pushcarts, ii) cleanliness of food sold, and iii) personal hygiene of street food hawkers or vendors.

Keywords: Food Safety, Foreign Tourists, Perceived Risk, Khao San Road.

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Authors: Daniel Puciato, Piotr Oleśniewicz, Julita Markiewicz-Patkowska, Krzysztof Widawski, Michał Rozpara, Władysław Mynarski, Agnieszka Gawlik, Małgorzata Dębska, Soňa Jandová

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Physical activity as a part of people’s everyday life reduces the risk of many diseases, including those induced by lifestyle, e.g. obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, coronary heart disease, degenerative arthritis, and certain types of cancer. That refers particularly to professionally active people, including the early senior group working on non-manual positions. The aim of the study is to evaluate the relationship between physical activity and the socio-economic status of non-manual workers from Wroclaw—one of the biggest cities in Poland, a model setting for such investigations in this part of Europe. The crucial problem in the research is to find out the percentage of respondents who meet the health-related recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the volume, frequency, and intensity of physical activity, as well as to establish if the most important socio-economic factors, such as gender, age, education, marital status, per capita income, savings and debt, determine the compliance with the WHO physical activity recommendations. During the research, conducted in 2013, 1,170 people (611 women and 559 men) aged 21–60 years were examined. A diagnostic poll method was applied to collect the data. Physical activity was measured with the use of the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire with extended socio-demographic questions, i.e. concerning gender, age, education, marital status, income, savings or debts. To evaluate the relationship between physical activity and selected socio-economic factors, logistic regression was used (odds ratio statistics). Statistical inference was conducted on the adopted ex ante probability level of p<0.05. The majority of respondents met the volume of physical effort recommended for health benefits. It was particularly noticeable in the case of the examined men. The probability of compliance with the WHO physical activity recommendations was highest for workers aged 21–30 years with secondary or higher education who were single, received highest incomes and had savings. The results indicate the relations between physical activity and socio-economic status in the examined women and men. People with lower socio-economic status (e.g. manual workers) are physically active primarily at work, whereas those better educated and wealthier implement physical effort primarily in their leisure time. Among the investigated subjects, the youngest group of non-manual workers have the best chances to meet the WHO standards of physical activity. The study also confirms that secondary education has a positive effect on the public awareness on the role of physical activity in human life. In general, the analysis of the research indicates that there is a relationship between physical activity and some socio-economic factors of the respondents, such as gender, age, education, marital status, income per capita, and the possession of savings. Although the obtained results cannot be applied for the general population, they show some important trends that will be verified in subsequent studies conducted by the authors of the paper.

Keywords: International physical activity questionnaire, non-manual workers, physical activity, socio-economic factors, WHO.

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Authors: Priya Bhakat

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A son in every Hindu society pays his own father the debt and he owes him for his own life whereas a girl child is treated as a burden mainly in case of first child. Even today in India we have many societies which does not welcome girl child. Although there is an increase in overall sex ratio, there is a continuous decline in child sex ratio. This paper focuses on issues of sex selective abortion in Rajasthan based on secondary data. It is found that 90.0 percentages of women in Rajasthan wants at least one son. Around 34.3 percentages of women wants more sons than daughters and only 1.5 percentages of women wants more daughters than sons. It is very common among the rich and educated people.

Keywords: Rajasthan, Family Planning Program (FPP), Sex Selective Abortion (SSA), Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB).

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Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Faiza O. A. Khalill

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Steel slag is a by-product of the steel industry and can be used potentially as aggregate in the asphalt mixture. This study evaluates the use of Steel Slag Aggregates (SSA) as a substitute for natural aggregates in the production of hot mix asphalt (HMA) for road construction. Based on intensive laboratory testing program, the characteristic properties of SSA were assessed to determine its suitability to be used in HMA. Four different percentages (0, 50, 75, and 100%) of SSA were used, and the proposed mix designs for HMA were conducted in accordance with Marshall mix design. The experiment results revealed that the addition of SSA has a significant improvement on the properties of HMA. An increase in density and stability and a reduction in flow and air voids values were clearly observed in specimens prepared with 100% SSA. It is concluded that the steel slag can be considered reasonable alternative source of aggregate for concrete asphalt mixture production.

Keywords: Aggregate, asphalt mixture, stability, steel slag.

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Authors: Daniele Traversaro

Abstract:

Problem: Senior citizens have been facing a challenging reality as a result of strict public health measures designed to protect people from the COVID-19 outbreak. These include the risk of social isolation due to the inability of the elderly to integrate with technology. Never before have Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills become essential for their everyday life. Although third-age ICT education and lifelong learning are widely supported by universities and governments, there is a lack of literature on which teaching strategy/methodology to adopt in an entirely online ICT course aimed at third-age learners. This contribution aims to present an application of the Think-Pair-Share (TPS) learning method in an ICT third-age virtual classroom with an intergenerational approach to conducting online group labs and review activities. Research Question: Is collaborative learning suitable and effective, in terms of student engagement and learning outcomes, in an online ICT course for the elderly? Methods: In the TPS strategy a problem is posed by the teacher, students have time to think about it individually, and then they work in pairs (or small groups) to solve the problem and share their ideas with the entire class. We performed four experiments in the ICT course of the University of the Third Age of Genova (University of Genova, Italy) on the Microsoft Teams platform. The study cohort consisted of 26 students over the age of 45. Data were collected through online questionnaires. Two have been proposed, one at the end of the first activity and another at the end of the course. They consisted of five and three close-ended questions, respectively. The answers were on a Likert scale (from 1 to 4) except two questions (which asked the number of correct answers given individually and in groups) and the field for free comments/suggestions. Results: Groups achieve better results than individual students (with scores greater than one order of magnitude) and most students found TPS helpful to work in groups and interact with their peers. Insights: From these early results, it appears that TPS is suitable for an online third-age ICT classroom and useful for promoting discussion and active learning. Despite this, our work has several limitations. First of all, the results highlight the need for more data to be able to perform a statistical analysis in order to determine the effectiveness of this methodology in terms of student engagement and learning outcomes as future direction.

Keywords: Collaborative learning, information technology education, lifelong learning, older adult education, think-pair-share.

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Authors: J. Sagouis, A. Chamel, E. Carre, C. Casasreales, G. Rudnik, M. Cerdan

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Robotics provides answers to amputees. The most expensive solutions surgically connect the prosthesis to nerve endings. There are also several types of non-invasive technologies that recover nerve messages passing through the muscles. After analyzing these messages, myoelectric prostheses perform the desired movement. The main goal is to avoid all surgeries, which can be heavy and offer cheaper alternatives. For an amputee, we use valid muscles to recover the electrical signal involved in a muscle movement. EMG sensors placed on the muscle allows us to measure a potential difference, which our program transforms into control for a robotic arm with two degrees of freedom. We have shown the feasibility of non-invasive prostheses with two degrees of freedom. Signal analysis and an increase in degrees of freedom is still being improved.

Keywords: Prosthesis, electromyography (EMG), robotic arm, nerve message.

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Authors: M. Athar Hussain, N.B. Jumani, Munazza Sultana., M. Zafar Iqbal

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Language Reforms and potential use of ICTs has been a focal area of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Efforts are being accelerated to incorporate fast expanding ICTs to bring qualitative improvement in language instruction in higher education. This paper explores how university teachers are benefitting from ICTs to make their English class effective and what type of problems they face in practicing ICTs during their lectures. An in-depth qualitative study was employed to understand why language teachers tend to use ICTs in their instruction and how they are practicing it. A sample of twenty teachers from five universities located in Islamabad, three from public sector and two from private sector, was selected on non-random (Snowball) sampling basis. An interview with 15 semi-structured items was used as research instruments to collect data. The findings reveal that business English teaching is facilitated and improved through the use of ICTs. The language teachers need special training regarding the practices and implementation of ICTs. It is recommended that initiatives might be taken to equip university language teachers with modern methodology incorporating ICTs as focal area and efforts might be made to remove barriers regarding the training of language teachers and proper usage of ICTs.

Keywords: Information and communication technologies, internet assisted learning, teaching business English, online instructional content.

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Authors: L. Vujičić, Ž. Ivković, Ž. Boneta

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There is a widespread belief in everyday discourse that science subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) are, along with math, the most difficult school subjects in the education of an individual. This assumption is usually justified by the following facts: low GPA in these subjects, the number of pupils who fail these subjects is high in comparison to other subjects, and the number of pupils interested in continuing their studies in the fields with a focus on science subjects is lower compared to non-science-oriented fields. From that perspective, the project: “Could it be different? How do children explore it?” becomes extremely interesting because it is focused on young children and on the introduction of new methods, with aim of arousing interest in scientific literacy development in 10 kindergartens by applying the methodology of an action research, with an ethnographic approach. We define scientific literacy as a process of encouraging and nurturing the research and explorative spirit in children, as well as their natural potential and abilities that represent an object of scientific research: to learn about exploration by conducting exploration. Upon project completion, an evaluation questionnaire was created for the parents of the children who had participated in the project, as well as for those whose children had not been involved in the project. The purpose of the first questionnaire was to examine the level of satisfaction with the project implementation and its outcomes among those parents whose children had been involved in the project (N=142), while the aim of the second questionnaire was to find out how much the parents of the children not involved (N=154) in this activity were interested in this topic.

Keywords: Documenting, early childhood education, evaluation questionnaire for parents, scientific literacy development.

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Authors: Denise Levy, Anna Lucia C. H. Villavicencio

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Food irradiation is a processing and preservation technique to eliminate insects and parasites and reduce disease-causing microorganisms. Moreover, the process helps to inhibit sprouting and delay ripening, extending fresh fruits and vegetables shelf-life. Nevertheless, most Brazilian consumers seem to misunderstand the difference between irradiated food and radioactive food and the general public has major concerns about the negative health effects and environmental contamination. Society´s judgment and decision making are directly linked to perceived benefits and risks. The web-based project entitled ‘Scientific information about food irradiation: Internet as a tool to approach science and society’ was created by the Nuclear and Energetic Research Institute (IPEN), in order to offer an interdisciplinary approach to science education, integrating economic, ethical, social and political aspects of food irradiation. This project takes into account that, misinformation and unfounded preconceived ideas impact heavily on the acceptance of irradiated food and purchase intention by the Brazilian consumer. Taking advantage of the potential value of the Internet to enhance communication and education among general public, a research study was carried out regarding the possibilities and trends of Information and Communication Technologies among the Brazilian population. The content includes concepts, definitions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about processes, safety, advantages, limitations and the possibilities of food irradiation, including health issues, as well as its impacts on the environment. The project counts on eight self-instructional interactive web courses, situating scientific content in relevant social contexts in order to encourage self-learning and further reflections. Communication is a must to improve public understanding of science. The use of information technology for quality scientific divulgation shall contribute greatly to provide information throughout the country, spreading information to as many people as possible, minimizing geographic distances and stimulating communication and development.

Keywords: Food irradiation, multimedia learning tools, nuclear science, society and education.

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Authors: Elsayed A. Habib Elamir

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In social network analysis the mean nodal degree and density of the graph can be considered as a measure of the activity of all actors in the network and this is an important property of a graph and for making comparisons among networks. Since subjects in a family or organization are subject to common environment factors, it is prime interest to study the association between responses. Therefore, we study the distribution of the mean nodal degree and density of the graph under correlated binary units. The cross product ratio is used to capture the intra-units association among subjects. Computer program and an application are given to show the benefits of the method.

Keywords: Correlated Binary data, cross product ratio, densityof the graph, multiplicative binomial distribution.

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Authors: Zelal Çinar

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This paper aims to expose the effects of the ideological program of Turkish Republic on city planning, through the first plan of Ankara. As the new capital, Ankara was planned to be the ‘showcase’ of modern Turkey. It was to represent all new ideologies and the country’s cultural similarities with the west. At the same time it was to underline the national identity and independence of Turkish republic. To this end, a new plan for the capital was designed by German city planner Carl Christopher Lörcher. Diametrically opposed with the existing fabric of the city, this plan was built on the basis of papers and plans, on ideological aims. On the contrary, this paper argues that the city is a machine of possibilities, rather than a clear, materialized system.

Keywords: Architecture, ideology, modernization, urban planning.

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Authors: Mahmud Fotuhi-Firuzabad, Saeed Afshar

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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: Md. Sayeed Akhter, Md. Akhtar Hossain Mazumder, Syeda Afreena Mamun

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Bangladesh is a patriarchal and male dominated country. Traditional, cultural, social, and religious values and practices have reinforced the lower status of women accorded to them in society and have limited their opportunities for education, technical and vocational training, and involvement with earning activities outside their households. After independence numbers of women are doing job outside their households. This study attempts to find out the reasons of engaging in earning activities outside households and difficulties faced by upper and lower class working women in Bangladesh. To explore the objectives and research questions of the study descriptive techniques had been used. Survey was conducted among the women who were working in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh and face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect data. Findings of the study illustrates that most of the upper class working women engaged into job because they wanted to utilized their education and to bring solvency in the family, and they spend their income for meeting the needs of all the members of the family. On the other hand, most of the lower class working women involved into earning activities outside their households because they want to bring solvency in their families and spend their income on household expenditure. Both classes became tensed for their children because they had to stay at their working place for long time. Therefore, day care center should be established besides their working place for their children.

Keywords: Working Women, Reasons for Doing Jobs, Working Environment, Difficulties Faced.

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Authors: PeiWen Liao, Tsung Hau Jen

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This study was conducted to explore the effects of two countries model comparison program in Taiwan and Singapore in TIMSS database. The researchers used Multi-Group Hierarchical Linear Modeling techniques to compare the effects of two different country models and we tested our hypotheses on 4,046 Taiwan students and 4,599 Singapore students in 2007 at two levels: the class level and student (individual) level. Design quality is a class level variable. Student level variables are achievement and self-confidence. The results challenge the widely held view that retention has a positive impact on self-confidence. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: Teaching approach, self-confidence, achievement, multi-group HLM.

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Authors: Kadyrzhan Smagulov, Beken Makhmutov, Abai Kurmankulov

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The concept of the new government should focus on forming a new relationship between public servants and citizens of the state, formed on the principles of transparency, accountability, protection of citizens' rights. These principles are laid down in the problem of administrative reform in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Also, this wish arises, contributing to the improvement of the system of political management in our country. For the full realization of the goals is necessary to develop a special state program designed to improve the regulatory framework for public service, improving training, retraining and advanced training of civil servants, forming a system of incentives in public service and other activities aimed at achieving the efficiency of the entire system government.

Keywords: Kazakhstan, political management, independence

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Authors: Wael M. El-Mamlouk, Metwally A. El-Sharkawy, Hossam. E. Mostafa

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In this paper, we analyze and test a scheme for the estimation of electrical fundamental frequency signals from the harmonic load current and voltage signals. The scheme was based on using two different Multi Layer Artificial Neural Networks (ML-ANN) one for the current and the other for the voltage. This study also analyzes and tests the effect of choosing the optimum artificial neural networks- sizes which determine the quality and accuracy of the estimation of electrical fundamental frequency signals. The simulink tool box of the Matlab program for the simulation of the test system and the test of the neural networks has been used.

Keywords: Harmonics, Neural Networks, Modeling, Simulation, Active filters, electric Networks.

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Authors: Pyone Lai Swe, Wanna Swe, Kyaw Myo Lin

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Voltage stability has become an important issue to many power systems around the world due to the weak systems and long line on power system networks. In this paper, MATLAB load flow program is applied to obtain the weak points in the system combined with finding the voltage stability limit. The maximum permissible loading of a system, within the voltage stability limit, is usually determined. The methods for varying tap ratio (using tap changing transformer) and applying different values of shunt capacitor injection to improve the voltage stability within the limit are also provided.

Keywords: Load flow, Voltage stability, Tap changingtransformer, Shunt capacitor injection, Voltage stability limit

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Authors: Sri Sumartiningsih, Anies Setiowati

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of breaststroke swimming exercise to improving the peak expiratory flow. Methode: This study used 17 students of men aged 19-21 years, APE values measured before and after the study. Style swimming workout done in accordance with a program that has been made. Result: Value of peak expiratory flow in male students obtained on average before exercise (530 ± 15 811) liters / min and after doing the exercises (540.59 ± 17 092) liters / minute. Paired ttest showed t = -6.446 and p = 0.000, which means there are differences in peak expiratory flow values before and after exercise swimming breaststroke. Conclusion: The conclusion is the breaststroke swimming exercise can be improving of peak expiratory flow.

Keywords: Breaststroke, peak expiratory flow.

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Authors: Vera Pujani

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The purpose of this study is to investiagte the use of the ecommerce website in Indonesia as a developing country. The ecommerce website has been identified having the significant impact on business activities in particular solving the geographical problem for islanded countries likes Indonesia. Again, website is identified as a crucial marketing tool. This study presents the effect of quality and features on the use and user satisfaction employing ecommerce websites. Survey method for 115 undergraduate students of Management Department in Andalas University who are attending Management Information Systems (SIM) class have been undertaken. The data obtained is analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS program. This result found that quality of system and information, feature as well satisfaction influencing the use ecommerce website in Indonesia contexts.

Keywords: Use, Developing Country, Satisfaction, Website

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Authors: Binu Thomas, Raju G., Sonam Wangmo

Abstract:

In Data mining, Fuzzy clustering algorithms have demonstrated advantage over crisp clustering algorithms in dealing with the challenges posed by large collections of vague and uncertain natural data. This paper reviews concept of fuzzy logic and fuzzy clustering. The classical fuzzy c-means algorithm is presented and its limitations are highlighted. Based on the study of the fuzzy c-means algorithm and its extensions, we propose a modification to the cmeans algorithm to overcome the limitations of it in calculating the new cluster centers and in finding the membership values with natural data. The efficiency of the new modified method is demonstrated on real data collected for Bhutan-s Gross National Happiness (GNH) program.

Keywords: Adaptive fuzzy clustering, clustering, fuzzy logic, fuzzy clustering, c-means.

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Authors: Said C. Fares, Mary A. Fares

Abstract:

It is well documented that introductory computer programming courses are difficult and that failure rates are high. The aim of this project was to reduce the high failure and withdrawal rates in learning to program. This paper presents a number of changes in module organization and instructional delivery system in teaching CS1. Daily out of class help sessions and tutoring services were applied, interactive lectures and laboratories, online resources, and timely feedback were introduced. Five years of data of 563 students in 21 sections was collected and analyzed. The primary results show that the failure and withdrawal rates were cut by more than half. Student surveys indicate a positive evaluation of the modified instructional approach, overall satisfaction with the course and consequently, higher success and retention rates.

Keywords: Failure Rate, Interactive Learning, Student engagement, CS1.

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