Search results for: Local community

Authors: D.Nuketaeva, A.Kanagatova, I.Khan, B.Kylyshbayeva, G.Bektenova

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This article describes the aspects of the formation of the national idea and national identity through the prism of gender control and its contradistinction to the obsolete, Soviet component. The role of females in ethnic and national projects is considered from the point of view of Dr. Nira Yuval-Davis: as biological reproducers of the ethnic communities- members; as reproducers of the boarders of ethnic/national groups; as central participants in the ideological reproduction of community and transducers of its culture; as symbols in ideology, reproduction and transformation of ethnic/national categories; and as participants of national, economical, political and military combats. The society of the transitional type uses the symbolic resources of the formation of gender component in the national project. The gender patterns act like cultural codes, executing the important ideological function in formation of the national female- image, i.e. the discussion on hijab - it-s not just the discussion on control over the female body, it-s the discussion on the metaphor of social order.

Keywords: nation, gender, hijab, Islam, ideology, politics, national idea, national identity, society of the transitional type

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Authors: W. Afef, A. Mohamed Ammar, G. Kamel, O. Ahmed

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In the present study, a numerical approach to describe the pyrolysis of a single solid particle of wood is used to study the influence of various conditions such as particle size, heat transfer coefficient, reactor temperature and heating rate. The influence of these parameters in the change of the duration of the pyrolysis cycle was studied. Mathematical modeling was employed to simulate the heat, mass transfer, and kinetic processes inside the reactor. The evolutions of the mass loss as well as the evolution of temperature inside the thick piece are investigated numerically. The elaborated model was also employed to study the effect of the reactor temperature and the rate of heating on the change of the temperature and the local loss of the mass inside the piece of wood. The obtained results are in good agreement with the experimental data available in the literature.

Keywords: Wood, Pyrolysis, Modeling, Convective heat transfer, Kinetic.

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Authors: Soroosh Rezazadeh, Mehran Yazdi

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In this paper, a robust digital image watermarking scheme for copyright protection applications using the singular value decomposition (SVD) is proposed. In this scheme, an entropy masking model has been applied on the host image for the texture segmentation. Moreover, the local luminance and textures of the host image are considered for watermark embedding procedure to increase the robustness of the watermarking scheme. In contrast to all existing SVD-based watermarking systems that have been designed to embed visual watermarks, our system uses a pseudo-random sequence as a watermark. We have tested the performance of our method using a wide variety of image processing attacks on different test images. A comparison is made between the results of our proposed algorithm with those of a wavelet-based method to demonstrate the superior performance of our algorithm.

Keywords: Watermarking, copyright protection, singular value decomposition, entropy masking, texture segmentation.

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Authors: Meng-Hui Chen, Chiao-Wei Yu, Pei-Chann Chang

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Imperial competitive algorithm (ICA) simulates a multi-agent algorithm. Each agent is like a kingdom has its country, and the strongest country in each agent is called imperialist, others are colony. Countries are competitive with imperialist which in the same kingdom by evolving. So this country will move in the search space to find better solutions with higher fitness to be a new imperialist. The main idea in this paper is using the peculiarity of ICA to explore the search space to solve the kinds of combinational problems. Otherwise, we also study to use the greed search to increase the local search ability. To verify the proposed algorithm in this paper, the experimental results of traveling salesman problem (TSP) is according to the traveling salesman problem library (TSPLIB). The results show that the proposed algorithm has higher performance than the other known methods.

Keywords: Traveling Salesman Problem, Artificial Chromosomes, Greedy Search, Imperial Competitive Algorithm.

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Authors: Mohd Ariff Admon, Abdul Rahman Mohd Kasim, Sharidan Shafie

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This paper considers the effect of heat generation proportional l to (T - T∞ )p , where T is the local temperature and T∞ is the ambient temperature, in unsteady free convection flow near the stagnation point region of a three-dimensional body. The fluid is considered in an ambient fluid under the assumption of a step change in the surface temperature of the body. The non-linear coupled partial differential equations governing the free convection flow are solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference method for different values of the governing parameters entering these equations. The results for the flow and heat characteristics when p ≤ 2 show that the transition from the initial unsteady-state flow to the final steadystate flow takes place smoothly. The behavior of the flow is seen strongly depend on the exponent p.

Keywords: Free convection, Boundary layer flow, Stagnationpoint, Heat generation

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Authors: Mary-Magdalene N. Chumbow

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This study explores how a reality TV show which aired in Nigeria in 2019 (Big Brother Naija - BBN), played a role in enhancing gender-biased conversations among its viewers and social media followers. Thematic analysis is employed here to study Twitter conversations among BBN 2019 followers, which ensued after the show had stopped airing. The study reveals that the show influenced the way viewers and fans engaged with each other, as well as with the show’s participants, on Twitter, and argues that, despite having aired for a short period of time, BBN 2019 was able to draw people together and provide a community where viewers could engage with each other online. Though the show aired on TV, the viewers found a digital space where they could air their views, react to what was happening on the show, as well as simply catch up on action that they probably missed. Within these digital communities, viewers expressed their attractions, disgust and identities, most of these having a form of reference to sexuality and gender identities and roles, as were also portrayed by the show’s producers both on TV and on social media.

Keywords: Commodification of Bodies, gender stereotypes, Big Brother Naija, social media, Nigeria.

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Authors: Md. Emaj Uddin

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This study compared socio-economic status attainment between the Muslim and Santal couples in rural Bangladesh. For this we hypothesized that socio-economic status attainment (occupation, education and income) of the Muslim couples was higher than the Santal ones in rural Bangladesh. In order to examine the hypothesis 288 couples (145 couples for Muslim and 143 couples for Santal) selected by cluster random sampling from Kalna village, Bangladesh were individually interviewed with semistructured questionnaire method. The results of Pearson Chi-Squire test suggest that there were significant differences in socio-economic status attainment between the two communities- couples. In addition, Pearson correlation coefficients also suggest that there were significant associations between the socio-economic statuses attained by the two communities- couples in rural Bangladesh. Further crosscultural study should conduct on how inter-community relations in rural social structure of Bangladesh influence the differences among the couples- socio-economic status attainment

Keywords: Bangladesh, Couple, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Muslim, Socio-Economic Status Attainment, Santal.

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Authors: Janjira Triped, Wipada Sanongraj, Bovornlak Oonkhanond, Sompop Sanongraj

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The main objective of this research is to synthesize silk fibroin fiber for indoor air particulate removal. Silk cocoons were de-gummed using 0.5 wt % Na2CO3 alkaline solutions at 90 Ó╣ìC for 60 mins, washed with distilled water, and dried at 80 Ó╣ìC for 3 hrs in a vacuum oven. Two sets of experiment were conducted to investigate the impacts of initial particulate matter (PM) concentration and that of air flow rate on the removal efficiency. Rice bran collected from a local rice mill in Ubonratchathani province was used as indoor air contaminant in this work. The morphology and physical properties of silk fibroin (SF) fiber were measured. The SEM revealed the deposition of PM on the used fiber. The PM removal efficiencies of 72.29 ± 3.03 % and 39.33 ± 1.99 % were obtained of PM10 and PM2.5, respectively, when using the initial PM concentration at 0.040 mg/m3 and 0.020 mg/m3 of PM10 and PM2.5, respectively, with the air flow rate of 5 L/min.

Keywords: Indoor air, Particulate matter, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Silk fibroin fiber.

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Authors: Lien Fa Lin, Yung Ming Li, Hsin Chen Hsieh

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The rise of smartphones brings new concept So-Lo-Mo (social-local-mobile) in mobile commerce area in recent years. However, current So-Lo-Mo services only focus on individual users but not a group of users, and the development of group commerce is not enough to satisfy the demand of real-time group buying and less to think about the social relationship between customers. In this research, we integrate mobile intelligence with group commerce and consider customers' preference, real-time context, and social influence as components in the mechanism. With the support of this mechanism, customers are able to gather near customers with the same potential purchase willingness through mobile devices when he/she wants to purchase products or services to have a real-time group-buying. By matching the demand and supply of mobile group-buying market, this research improves the business value of mobile commerce and group commerce further.

Keywords: Group formation, group commerce, mobile commerce, So-Lo-Mo, social influence.

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Authors: Siska Soesanti, Norihiro Nakai

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Bandung city center can be deemed as economic, social and cultural center. However the city center suffers from deterioration. The retail activities tend to shift outward the city center. Numerous idyllic residences changed into business premises in two villages situated in the north part of the city during 1990s, especially after a new highway and flyover opened. According to space syntax theory, the pattern of spatial integration in the urban grid is a prime determinant of movement patterns in the system. The syntactic analysis results show the flyover has insignificant influence on street network in the city center. However the flyover has been generating a major difference in the new commercial area since it has become relatively as strategic as the city center. Besides street network, local government policy, rapid private motorization and particular condition of each site also played important roles in encouraging the current commercial areas to flourish.

Keywords: City center, commercial area, space syntax, street network.

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Authors: Bakhtiar Ul Haq, R. Ahmed, A. Shaari, Mazmira Binti Mohamed, Nisar Ali

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The capability of exploiting the electronic charge and spin properties simultaneously in a single material has made diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) remarkable in the field of spintronics. We report the designing of DMS based on zinc-blend ZnO doped with Cr impurity. The full potential linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbital FP-L(APW+lo) method in density functional theory (DFT) has been adapted to carry out these investigations. For treatment of exchange and correlation energy, generalized gradient approximations have been used. Introducing Cr atoms in the matrix of ZnO has induced strong magnetic moment with ferromagnetic ordering at stable ground state. Cr:ZnO was found to favor the short range magnetic interaction that reflect tendency of Cr clustering. The electronic structure of ZnO is strongly influenced in the presence of Cr impurity atoms where impurity bands appear in the band gap.

Keywords: ZnO, Density functional theory, Diluted magnetic semiconductors, Ferromagnetic materials, FP-L(APW+lo).

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Authors: W. Maddison

Abstract:

This paper describes an Action Research project which was undertaken to inform professional practice in order to develop a newly created Centre for Student Success in the specific context of transnational medical and nursing education in the Middle East. The objectives were to enhance the academic performance, persistence, integration and personal and professional development of a multinational study body, in particular in relation to pre-clinical medical students, and to establish a comfortable, friendly and student-driven environment within an Irish medical university recently established in Bahrain. The outcomes of the project resulted in the development of a specific student success ‘signature’ for this particular transnational higher education context.

Keywords: Global-Local, pre-clinical medical students, student success, transnational higher education, Middle East.

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Authors: Nükhet Konuk, N. Gamze Turan, Yüksel Ardalı

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Cities play a vital role in the social fabric of countries and in national and regional economic growth worldwide; however, the environmental effects of such growth need to be assessed and managed better. The critical and most immediate problems faced by cities of developing countries are the health impacts of urban pollution that derive from inadequate water, sanitation, drainage and solid waste services, poor urban and industrial waste management, and air pollution. As globalization continues, earth's natural processes transform local problems into international issues. The aim of this study is to provide a broad overview of the pollution from urban wastes and emissions in Turkey which is a developing country. It is aimed to underline the significance of reorganizing the institutional tools in a worldwide perspective in order to generate coherent solutions to urban problems, and to enhance urban quality.

Keywords: Environmental pollution, developing countries, environmental degradation, urban environmental problems.

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Authors: Dinesh Kumar, C.S. Rai, Shakti Kumar

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Face Recognition has always been a fascinating research area. It has drawn the attention of many researchers because of its various potential applications such as security systems, entertainment, criminal identification etc. Many supervised and unsupervised learning techniques have been reported so far. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Self Organizing Maps (SOM) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) are the three techniques among many others as proposed by different researchers for Face Recognition, known as the unsupervised techniques. This paper proposes integration of the two techniques, SOM and PCA, for dimensionality reduction and feature selection. Simulation results show that, though, the individual techniques SOM and PCA itself give excellent performance but the combination of these two can also be utilized for face recognition. Experimental results also indicate that for the given face database and the classifier used, SOM performs better as compared to other unsupervised learning techniques. A comparison of two proposed methodologies of SOM, Local and Global processing, shows the superiority of the later but at the cost of more computational time.

Keywords: Face Recognition, Principal Component Analysis, Self Organizing Maps, Independent Component Analysis

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Authors: M. Sankari, C. Meena

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Enhancing the quality of two dimensional signals is one of the most important factors in the fields of video surveillance and computer vision. Usually in real-life video surveillance, false detection occurs due to the presence of random noise, illumination and shadow artifacts. The detection methods based on background subtraction faces several problems in accurately detecting objects in realistic environments: In this paper, we propose a noise removal algorithm using neighborhood comparison method with thresholding. The illumination variations correction is done in the detected foreground objects by using an amalgamation of techniques like homomorphic decomposition, curvelet transformation and gamma adjustment operator. Shadow is removed using chromaticity estimator with local relation estimator. Results are compared with the existing methods and prove as high robustness in the video surveillance.

Keywords: Chromaticity Estimator, Curvelet Transformation, Denoising, Gamma correction, Homomorphic, Neighborhood Assessment.

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Authors: Wen-Chieh, Hsieh

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The purpose of this study is to analyze the islands tourist travel information sources, as well as for the satisfaction of the tourist destination services. This study used questionnaires to the island of Taiwan to the Penghu Islands to engage in tourism activities tourist adopt the designated convenience sampling method, a total of 889 valid questionnaires were collected. After statistical analysis, this study found that: 1. tourists to the Penghu Islands travel information source for “friends and family came to Penghu". 2. Tourists feel the service of the outlying islands of Penghu, the highest feelings of “friendly local residents". 3. There are different demographic variables affect the tourist travel information source and service satisfaction. Based on the findings of this study not only for Penghu's tourism industry with the unit in charge of the proposed operating and suggestions for future research to other researchers.

Keywords: Island tourism, destination, travel information, service satisfaction.

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Authors: A. Szabó Nagy, J. Szabó, Zs. Csanádi, J. Erdős

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The main objective of this study was to assess the seasonal variation of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations associated with PM10 in an urban site of Győr, Hungary. A total of 112 PM10 aerosol samples were collected in the years of 2012 and 2013 and analyzed for PAHs by gas chromatography method. The total PAH concentrations (sum of the concentrations of 19 individual PAH compounds) ranged from 0.19 to 70.16 ng/m3 with the mean value of 12.29 ng/m3. Higher concentrations of both total PAHs and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) were detected in samples collected in the heating seasons. Using BaPequivalent potency index on the carcinogenic PAH concentration data, the local population appears to be exposed to significantly higher cancer risk in the heating seasons. However, the comparison of the BaP and total PAH concentrations observed for Győr with other cities it was found that the PAH levels in Győr generally corresponded to the EU average.

Keywords: Air quality, benzo[a]pyrene, PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

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Authors: Spiros Mazarakis, George Matzavinos, Peter P. Groumpos

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Economic models are complex dynamic systems with a lot of uncertainties and fuzzy data. Conventional modeling approaches using well known methods and techniques cannot provide realistic and satisfactory answers to today-s challenging economic problems. Qualitative modeling using fuzzy logic and intelligent system theories can be used to model macroeconomic models. Fuzzy Cognitive maps (FCM) is a new method been used to model the dynamic behavior of complex systems. For the first time FCMs and the Mamdani Model of Intelligent control is used to model macroeconomic models. This new model is referred as the Mamdani Rule-Based Fuzzy Cognitive Map (MBFCM) and provides the academic and research community with a new promising integrated advanced computational model. A new economic model is developed for a qualitative approach to Macroeconomic modeling. Fuzzy Controllers for such models are designed. Simulation results for an economic scenario are provided and extensively discussed

Keywords: Macroeconomic Models, Mamdani Rule Based- FCMs(MBFCMs), Qualitative and Dynamics System, Simulation.

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Authors: Meshkati M. E., Dehghani A. A., Naser G., E mamgholizadeh S., Mosaedi A.

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Sedimentation in reservoirs and the corresponding loss of storage capacity is one of the most serious problems in dam engineering. Pressurized flushing, a way to remove sediments from the reservoir, is flushing under a pressurized flow condition and nearly constant water level. Pressurized flushing has only local effects around the outlet. Sediment in the vicinity of the outlet openings is scoured and a funnel shaped crater is created. In this study, the temporal development of flushing cone under various hydraulic conditions was studied experimentally. Time variations of parameters such as maximum length and width of flushing and also depth of scouring cone was measured. Results indicated that an increase in flow velocity (and consequently in Froude number) established new hydraulically conditions for flushing mechanism and so a sudden growth was observed in the amount of sediment released and also scouring dimenssions. In addition, a set of nondimensional relationships were identified for temporal variations of flushing scour dimenssions, which can eventuallt be used to estimate the development of flushing cone.

Keywords: Pressure Flushing, Dam, Sediment, Scouring.

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Authors: Gulnara N. Nabiyeva, Stephen M. Wheeler

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a multipurpose computer-based tool that provides a sophisticated ability to map and analyze data on different spatial layers. However, GIS is far more easily applied in some policy areas than others. This paper seeks to determine the areas of sustainable development, including environmental, economic, and social dimensions, where GIS has been used to date to support efforts to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to discuss potential areas where it might be used more. Based on an extensive analysis of published literature, we ranked the SDGs according to how frequently GIS has been used to study related policy. We found that SDG#15 “Life on Land” is most often addressed with GIS, following by SDG#11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities”, and SDG#13 “Climate Action”. On the other hand, we determined that SDG#2 “Zero Hunger”, SDG#8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, and SDG#16 “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” are least addressed with GIS. The paper outlines some specific ways that GIS might be applied to the SDGs least linked to this tool currently.

Keywords: GIS, GIS application, sustainable community development, sustainable development goals.

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Authors: N. Aliasgharzad, A. Molaei, S. Oustan

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Soil microbial activity is adversely affected by pollutants such as heavy metals, antibiotics and pesticides. Organic amendments including sewage sludge, municipal compost and vermicompost are recently used to improve soil structure and fertility. But, these materials contain heavy metals including Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni and Cu that are toxic to soil microorganisms and may lead to occurrence of more tolerant microbes. Among these, Pb is the most abundant and has more negative effect on soil microbial ecology. In this study, Pb levels of 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mg Pb [as Pb(NO3)2] per kg soil were added to the pots containing 2 kg of a loamy soil and incubated for 6 months at 25°C with soil moisture of - 0.3 MPa. Dehydrogenase activity of soil as a measure of microbial activity was determined on 15, 30, 90 and 180 days after incubation. Triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) was used as an electron acceptor in this assay. PICTs (€IC50 values) were calculated for each Pb level and incubation time. Soil microbial activity was decreased by increasing Pb level during 30 days of incubation but the induced tolerance appeared on day 90 and thereafter. During 90 to 180 days of incubation, the PICT was gradually developed by increasing Pb level up to 200 mg kg-1, but the rate of enhancement was steeper at higher concentrations.

Keywords: Induced tolerance, soil microorganisms, Pb, PICT, pollutants.

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Authors: So-Jung Kim, Kyoung-Seok Kim, Yeong-Gyeong Choi

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Although there are many theories and discussion of leadership, the necessity of having a new leadership paradigm was emphasized. The existing leadership characteristic of instruction and control revealed its limitations. Market competition becomes fierce and economic recession never ends worldwide. Of the leadership theories, servant leadership was introduced recently and is in line with the environmental changes of the organization. Servant leadership is a combination of two words, 'servant' and 'leader' and can be defined as the role of the leader who focuses on doing voluntary work for others with altruistic ethics, makes members, customers, and local communities a priority, and makes a commitment to satisfying their needs. This leadership received attention as one field of leadership in the late 1990s and secured its legitimacy. This study discusses the existing research trends of leadership, the concept, behavior characteristics, and lower dimensions of servant leadership, compares servant leadership with the existing leadership researches and diagnoses if servant leadership is a useful concept for further leadership researches. Finally, this study criticizes the limitations in the existing researches on servant leadership.

Keywords: Leadership Philosophy, Leadership Theory, Servant Leadership, Traditional Leadership.

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Authors: Md Abdullah Al Faruque

Abstract:

A very large percentage of bridge failures are attributed to scouring around bridge piers and this directly influences public safety. Experiments are carried out in a 12-m long rectangular open channel flume made of transparent tempered glass. A 300 mm thick bed made up of sand particles is leveled horizontally to create the test bed and a 50 mm hollow plastic cylinder is used as a model bridge pier. Tests are carried out with varying flow depths and velocities. Data points of various scour parameters such as scour depth, width, and length are collected based on different flow conditions and visual observations of changes in the stream bed downstream the bridge pier are also made as the scour progresses. Result shows that all three major flow characteristics (flow depth, Froude number and densimetric Froude number) have one way or other affect the scour profile.

Keywords: Bridge pier scour, densimetric Froude number, flow depth, Froude Number, sand.

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Authors: Shunichiro Morishita

Abstract:

This study examines the factors for attracting foreign guests in the Japanese lodging industry and discusses some measures taken for accepting foreign guests. It reviews three different accommodation providers acclaimed highly by foreign guests, Yamashiroya, Sawanoya and Fuji-Hakone Guest House, and identifies their characteristics. The common points for attracting foreign guests were: 1) making the best use of the old facilities, 2) multilingual signs, guidance and websites, 3) necessary and sufficient communication in English, 4) events and opportunities to experience Japanese culture, 5) omotenashi, warm and homely Japanese hospitality. These findings indicate that foreign guests’ dissatisfaction level can be decreased through internationalization utilizing ICT and by offering multilingual support. On the other hand, their satisfaction level can be increased by encouraging interaction with other guests and local Japanese people, providing events and opportunities to experience Japanese culture and omotenashi, home-style Japanese hospitality.

Keywords: Hospitality management, foreign guests, Japanese lodging industry, Omotenashi.

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Authors: Benjamin Y. M. Kwan, Hon Keung Kwan

Abstract:

Early detection of lung cancer through chest radiography is a widely used method due to its relatively affordable cost. In this paper, an approach to improve lung nodule visualization on chest radiographs is presented. The approach makes use of linear phase high-frequency emphasis filter for digital filtering and histogram equalization for contrast enhancement to achieve improvements. Results obtained indicate that a filtered image can reveal sharper edges and provide more details. Also, contrast enhancement offers a way to further enhance the global (or local) visualization by equalizing the histogram of the pixel values within the whole image (or a region of interest). The work aims to improve lung nodule visualization of chest radiographs to aid detection of lung cancer which is currently the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

Keywords: Chest radiographs, Contrast enhancement, Digital filtering, Lung nodule detection

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Authors: M. Schulze, P. Crespo Del Granado

Abstract:

This paper considers the influence of promotion instruments for renewable energy sources (RES) on a multi-energy modeling framework. In Europe, so called Feed-in Tariffs are successfully used as incentive structures to increase the amount of energy produced by RES. Because of the stochastic nature of large scale integration of distributed generation, many problems have occurred regarding the quality and stability of supply. Hence, a macroscopic model was developed in order to optimize the power supply of the local energy infrastructure, which includes electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and district heating as energy carriers. Unique features of the model are the integration of RES and the adoption of Feed-in Tariffs into one optimization stage. Sensitivity studies are carried out to examine the system behavior under changing profits for the feed-in of RES. With a setup of three energy exchanging regions and a multi-period optimization, the impact of costs and profits are determined.

Keywords: Distributed generation, optimization methods, power system modeling, renewable energy.

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Authors: N.M. Museisi

Abstract:

This is a cross-cultural study that determines South African multinational enterprises (MNEs) entry strategies as they invest in Africa. An integrated theoretical framework comprising the transaction cost theory, Uppsala model, eclectic paradigm and the distance framework was adopted. A sample of 40 South African MNEs with 415 existing FDI entries in Africa was drawn. Using an ordered logistic regression model, the impact of culture on the choice of degree of control by South African MNEs in Africa was determined. Cultural distance was one of significant factors that influenced South African MNEs- choice of degree of control. Furthermore, South African MNEs are risk averse in all countries in Africa but minimize the risks differently across sectors. Service sectors chooses to own their subsidiaries 100% and avoid dealing with the locals while manufacturing, resources and construction choose to have a local partner to share the risk.

Keywords: Cross-cultural, emerging MNEs, entry strategies, internationalization.

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Authors: Nor Hafizah S., Salfarina A. G., Intan Hashimah H., Juliana A. W.

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Collective action can be an effective means for local development as well as important strategy to enhance livelihoods especially among rural people. This article explores the level of collective action among members of Fishermen-s Wives Group (KUNITA) in Malaysia. KUNITA was established by the Malaysian Fishery Development Authority (LKIM) with an objective to increase the socio-economic status of fishermen-s families. The members who are mostly the wives and daughters of fishermen are strongly encouraged by LKIM to venture into entrepreneurship activities. The objective of this research was to see the level of collective action among members in KUNITA groups in the state of Selangor. The finding shows that high level of collective action among KUNITA members is strongly based on volunteerism. However, the level of cooperation among members in the group is relatively low. The findings present significant challenges for the group in maintaining the sustainability of KUNITA organization.

Keywords: Collective action, entrepreneurship, fishermen' swives group, LKIM.

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Authors: Dalvir Singh, Somnath Chattopadhyaya

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During welding or flame cutting of metals, the prediction of heat affected zone (HAZ) is critical. There is need to develop a simple mathematical model to calculate the temperature variation in HAZ and derivative analysis can be used for this purpose. This study presents analytical solution for heat transfer through conduction in mild steel plate. The homogeneous and nonhomogeneous boundary conditions are single variables. The full field analytical solutions of temperature measurement, subjected to local heating source, are derived first by method of separation of variables followed with the experimental visualization using infrared imaging. Based on the present work, it is suggested that appropriate heat input characteristics controls the temperature distribution in and around HAZ.

Keywords: Conduction Heat Transfer, Heat Affected Zone (HAZ), Infra-Red Imaging, Numerical Method, Orthogonal Function, Plasma Arc Cutting, Separation of Variables, Temperature Measurement.

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Authors: Se Kyung Oh, Ary Bachtiar Krishna Putra, Soo Whan Ahn

Abstract:

A numerical study on the turbulent flow and heat transfer characteristics in the rectangular channel with different types of baffles is carried out. The inclined baffles have the width of 19.8 cm, the square diamond type hole having one side length of 2.55 cm, and the inclination angle of 5o. Reynolds number is varied between 23,000 and 57,000. The SST turbulence model is applied in the calculation. The validity of the numerical results is examined by the experimental data. The numerical results of the flow field depict that the flow patterns around the different baffle type are entirely different and these significantly affect the local heat transfer characteristics. The heat transfer and friction factor characteristics are significantly affected by the perforation density of the baffle plate. It is found that the heat transfer enhancement of baffle type II (3 hole baffle) has the best values.

Keywords: Turbulent flow, rectangular channel, inclined baffle, heat transfer, friction factor.

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