Search results for: Web Content Mining
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2170

Search results for: Web Content Mining

850 Reinforcement Effect on Dynamic Properties of Saturated Sand

Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, M. Alibolandi

Abstract:

Dynamic behavior of soil are evaluated relative to a number of factors including: strain level, density, number of cycles, material type, fine content, geosynthetic inclusion, saturation, and effective stress .This paper investigate the dynamic behavior of saturated reinforced sand under cyclic stress condition. The cyclic triaxial tests are conducted on remolded specimens under various CSR which reinforced by different arrangement of non-woven geotextile. Aforementioned tests simulate field reinforced saturated deposits during earthquake or other cyclic loadings. This analysis revealed that the geotextile arrangement played dominant role on dynamic soil behavior and as geotextile close to top of specimen, the liquefaction resistance increased.

Keywords: Dynamic Behavior, Reinforced Sand, Triaxial Test, Non-woven Geotextile.

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849 A Review on Terrestrial Multimedia Communication using OFDM Technology

Authors: Shweta Shah, Upena Dalal

Abstract:

The development of wireless communication technologies has changed our living style in global level. After the international success of mobile telephony standards, the location and time independent voice connection has become a default method in daily telecommunications. As for today, highly advanced multimedia messaging plays a key role in value added service handling. Along with evolving data services, the need for more complex applications can be seen, including the mobile usage of broadcast technologies. Here performance of a system design for terrestrial multimedia content is examined with emphasis on mobile reception. This review paper has accommodated the understanding of physical layer role and the flavour of terrestrial channel effects on the terrestrial multimedia transmission using OFDM keeping DVB-H as benchmark standard.

Keywords: Digital Video Broadcast-Handhelds, Multimedia, OFDM, Physical Layer

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848 Effect of Incorporating Silica Fume in Fly Ash Geopolymers

Authors: Suresh Thokchom, Debabrata Dutta, Somnath Ghosh

Abstract:

This paper presents results of an experimental study performed to investigate effect of incorporating silica fume on physico-mechanical properties and durability of resulting fly ash geopolymers. Geopolymer specimens were prepared by activating fly ash incorporated with additional silica fume in the range of 2.5% to 5%, with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution having Na2O content of 8%. For studying durability, 10% magnesium sulphate solution was used to immerse the specimens up to a period of 15 weeks during which visual observation, weight changes and strength changes were monitored regularly. Addition of silica fume lowers performance of geopolymer pastes. However, in mortars, addition of silica fume significantly enhanced physico-mechanical properties and durability.

Keywords: Fly ash, silica fume, geopolymer, apparent porosity, sorptivity, compressive strength, durability.

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847 A Fixed Band Hysteresis Current Controller for Voltage Source AC Chopper

Authors: K. Derradji Belloum, A. Moussi

Abstract:

Most high-performance ac drives utilize a current controller. The controller switches a voltage source inverter (VSI) such that the motor current follows a set of reference current waveforms. Fixed-band hysteresis (FBH) current control has been widely used for the PWM inverter. We want to apply the same controller for the PWM AC chopper. The aims of the controller is to optimize the harmonic content at both input and output sides, while maintaining acceptable losses in the ac chopper and to control in wide range the fundamental output voltage. Fixed band controller has been simulated and analyzed for a single-phase AC chopper and are easily extended to three-phase systems. Simulation confirmed the advantages and the excellent performance of the modulation method applied for the AC chopper.

Keywords: AC chopper, Current controller, Distortion factor, Hysteresis, Input Power Factor, PWM.

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846 Heavy Metals in PM2.5 Aerosols in Urban Sites of Győr, Hungary

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

Abstract:

Atmospheric concentrations of some heavy metal compounds (Pb, Cd, Ni) and the metalloid As were identified and determined in airborne PM2.5 particles in urban sites of Győr, northwest area of Hungary. PM2.5 aerosol samples were collected in two different sampling sites and the trace metal(loid) (Pb, Ni, Cd and As) content were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The concentration of PM2.5 fraction was varied between 12.22 and 36.92 μg/m3 at the two sampling sites. The trend of heavy metal mean concentrations regarding the mean value of the two urban sites of Győr was found in decreasing order of Pb > Ni > Cd. The mean values were 7.59 ng/m3 for Pb, 0.34 ng/m3 for Ni and 0.11 ng/m3 for Cd, respectively. The metalloid As could be detected only in 3.57% of the total collected samples. The levels of PM2.5 bounded heavy metals were determined and compared with other cities located in Hungary.

Keywords: Aerosol, air quality, heavy metals, PM2.5.

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845 A Visual Educational Modeling Language to Help Teachers in Learning Scenario Design

Authors: A. Retbi, M. Khalidi Idrissi, S. Bennani

Abstract:

The success of an e-learning system is highly dependent on the quality of its educational content and how effective, complete, and simple the design tool can be for teachers. Educational modeling languages (EMLs) are proposed as design languages intended to teachers for modeling diverse teaching-learning experiences, independently of the pedagogical approach and in different contexts. However, most existing EMLs are criticized for being too abstract and too complex to be understood and manipulated by teachers. In this paper, we present a visual EML that simplifies the process of designing learning scenarios for teachers with no programming background. Based on the conceptual framework of the activity theory, our resulting visual EML focuses on using Domainspecific modeling techniques to provide a pedagogical level of abstraction in the design process.

Keywords: Educational modeling language, Domain Specific Modeling, authoring systems, learning scenario.

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844 Steam Gasification of Palm Kernel Shell (PKS): Effect of Fe/BEA and Ni/BEA Catalysts and Steam to Biomass Ratio on Composition of Gaseous Products

Authors: M.F. Mohamad, Anita Ramli, S.E.E Misi, S. Yusup

Abstract:

This work presents the hydrogen production from steam gasification of palm kernel shell (PKS) at 700 oC in the presence of 5% Ni/BEA and 5% Fe/BEA as catalysts. The steam gasification was performed in two-staged reactors to evaluate the effect of calcinations temperature and the steam to biomass ratio on the product gas composition. The catalytic activity of Ni/BEA catalyst decreases with increasing calcinations temperatures from 500 to 700 oC. The highest H2 concentration is produced by Fe/BEA (600) with more than 71 vol%. The catalytic activity of the catalysts tested is found to correspond to its physicochemical properties. The optimum range for steam to biomass ratio if found to be between 2 to 4. Excess steam content results in temperature drop in the gasifier which is undesirable for the gasification reactions.

Keywords: Hydrogen, Palm Kernel Shell, Steam gasification, Ni/BEA, Fe/BEA

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843 Determination and Comparison of Some Elements in Different Types of Orange Juices and Investigation of Health Effects

Authors: F. Demir, A. S. Kipcak, O. Dere Ozdemir, E. Moroydor Derun, S. Piskin

Abstract:

Fruit juices play important roles in human health as being a key part of nutrition. Juice and nectar are two categories of drinks with so many variations for consumers, regardless of age, lifestyle and taste preferences, which they can find their favorites. Juices contain 100% pulp when pulp content of ‘nectar’ changes between 25%-50%. In this study, potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and phosphorus (P) contents in orange juice and nectar is determined for conscious consumption. For this purpose inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) is used to find out potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and phosphorus (P) contents in orange juices and nectar. Furthermore, the daily intake of elements from orange juice and nectar that affects human health is also investigated. From the results of experiments K, Mg and P contents are found in orange juice as 1351; 73,25; 89,27 ppm and in orange nectar as 986; 33,76; 51,30 respectively.

Keywords: Orange juice, nectar, ICP-OES, element.

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842 Measurement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Sugarcane Plantation Soil in Thailand

Authors: Wilaiwan Sornpoon, Sébastien Bonnet, Savitri Garivait

Abstract:

Continuous measurements of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted from soils are required to understand diurnal and seasonal variations in soil emissions and related mechanism. This understanding plays an important role in appropriate quantification and assessment of the overall change in soil carbon flow and budget. This study proposes to monitor GHGs emissions from soil under sugarcane cultivation in Thailand. The measurements were conducted over 379 days. The results showed that the total net amount of GHGs emitted from sugarcane plantation soil amounts to 36 Mg CO2eq ha-1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) were found to be the main contributors to the emissions. For methane (CH4), the net emission was found to be almost zero. The measurement results also confirmed that soil moisture content and GHGs emissions are positively correlated.

Keywords: Soil, GHG emission, Sugarcane, Agriculture, Thailand.

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841 Autonomous Robots- Visual Perception in Underground Terrains Using Statistical Region Merging

Authors: Omowunmi E. Isafiade, Isaac O. Osunmakinde, Antoine B. Bagula

Abstract:

Robots- visual perception is a field that is gaining increasing attention from researchers. This is partly due to emerging trends in the commercial availability of 3D scanning systems or devices that produce a high information accuracy level for a variety of applications. In the history of mining, the mortality rate of mine workers has been alarming and robots exhibit a great deal of potentials to tackle safety issues in mines. However, an effective vision system is crucial to safe autonomous navigation in underground terrains. This work investigates robots- perception in underground terrains (mines and tunnels) using statistical region merging (SRM) model. SRM reconstructs the main structural components of an imagery by a simple but effective statistical analysis. An investigation is conducted on different regions of the mine, such as the shaft, stope and gallery, using publicly available mine frames, with a stream of locally captured mine images. An investigation is also conducted on a stream of underground tunnel image frames, using the XBOX Kinect 3D sensors. The Kinect sensors produce streams of red, green and blue (RGB) and depth images of 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second. Integrating the depth information to drivability gives a strong cue to the analysis, which detects 3D results augmenting drivable and non-drivable regions in 2D. The results of the 2D and 3D experiment with different terrains, mines and tunnels, together with the qualitative and quantitative evaluation, reveal that a good drivable region can be detected in dynamic underground terrains.

Keywords: Drivable Region Detection, Kinect Sensor, Robots' Perception, SRM, Underground Terrains.

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840 Some Physical and Mechanical Properties of Russian Olive Fruit

Authors: D. Zare, F. Salmanizade, H. Safiyari

Abstract:

Physical and mechanical properties of Russian olive fruits were measured at moisture content of 14.43% w.b. The results revealed that the mean length, width and thickness of Russian olive fruits were 20.72, 15.73 and 14.69mm, respectively. Mean mass and volume of Russian olive fruits were measured as 1.45 g and 2.55 cm3, respectively. The sphericity, aspect ratio and surface area were calculated as 0.81, 0.72 and 8.96 cm2, respectively, while arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean diameter and equivalent diameter of Russian olive fruits were 17.05, 16.83 and 16.84 mm, respectively. Whole fruit density, bulk density and porosity of jujube fruits were measured and found to be 1.01 g/cm3, 0.29 g/cm3 and 69.5%, respectively. The values of static coefficient of friction on three surfaces of glass, galvanized iron and plywood were 0.35, 0.36 and 0.43, respectively. The skin color (L*, a*, b*) varied from 9.92 to 16.08; 2.04 to 3.91 and 1.12 to 3.83, respectively. The values of rupture force, deformation, energy absorbed and hardness were found to be between 12.14-16.85 N, 2.16-4.25 mm, 3.42-6.99 N mm and 17.1-23.85 N/mm.

Keywords: Mechanical and Physical properties, Russian olive fruits, friction coefficient

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839 Investigation of the Effect of Fine-Grained and Its Plastic Properties on Liquefaction Resistance of Sand

Authors: S. A. Naeini, M. Mortezaee

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of fine grain content in soil and its plastic properties on soil liquefaction potential. For this purpose, the conditions for considering the fine grains effect and percentage of plastic fine on the liquefaction resistance of saturated sand presented by researchers has been investigated. Then, some comprehensive results of all the issues raised by some researchers are stated. From these investigations it was observed that by increasing the percentage of cohesive fine grains in the sandy soil (up to 20%), the maximum shear strength decreases and by adding more fine- grained percentage, the maximum shear strength of the resulting soil increases but never reaches the amount of clean sand.

Keywords: Fine-grained, liquefaction, plasticity, shear strength, sand.

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838 Petrology Investigation of Apatite Minerals in the Esfordi Mine, Yazd, Iran

Authors: Haleh Rezaei Zanjirabadi, Fatemeh Saberi, Bahman Rahimzadeh, Fariborz Masoudi, Mohammad Rahgosha

Abstract:

In this study, apatite minerals from the iron-phosphate deposit of Yazd have been investigated within the microcontinent zone of Iran in the Zagros structural zone. The geological units in the Esfordi area belong to the pre-Cambrian to lower-Cambrian age, consisting of a succession of carbonate rocks (dolomite), shale, tuff, sandstone, and volcanic rocks. In addition to the mentioned sedimentary and volcanic rocks, the granitoid mass of Bahabad, which is the largest intrusive mass in the region, has intruded into the eastern part of this series and has caused its metamorphism and alteration. After collecting the available data, various samples of Esfordi’s apatite were prepared, and their mineralogy and crystallography were investigated using laboratory methods such as petrographic microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). In non-destructive Raman spectroscopy, the molecular structure of apatite minerals was revealed in four distinct spectral ranges. Initially, the spectra of phosphate and aluminum bonds with O2HO, OH, were observed, followed by the identification of Cl, OH, Al, Na, Ca and hydroxyl units depending on the type of apatite mineral family. In SEM analysis, based on various shapes and different phases of apatites, their constituent major elements were identified through EDS, indicating that the samples from the Esfordi mining area exhibit a dense and coherent texture with smooth surfaces. Based on the elemental analysis results by EDS, the apatites in the Esfordi area are classified into the calcic apatite group.

Keywords: Petrology, apatite, Esfordi, EDS, SEM, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Raman spectroscopy.

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837 Influence of Ammonium Concentration on the Performance of an Inorganic Biofilter Treating Methane

Authors: Marc Veillette, Antonio Avalos Ramirez, Michèle Heitz

Abstract:

Among the technologies available to reduce methane emitted from the pig industry, biofiltration seems to be an effective and inexpensive solution. In methane (CH4) biofiltration, nitrogen is an important macronutrient for the microorganisms growth. The objective of this research project was to study the effect of ammonium (NH4 +) on the performance, the biomass production and the nitrogen conversion of a biofilter treating methane. For NH4 + concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 gN-NH4 +/L, the CH4 removal efficiency and the dioxide carbon production rate decreased linearly from 68 to 11.8 % and from 7.1 to 0.5 g/(m3-h), respectively. The dry biomass content varied from 4.1 to 5.8 kg/(m3 filter bed). For the same range of concentrations, the ammonium conversion decreased while the specific nitrate production rate increased. The specific nitrate production rate presented negative values indicating denitrification in the biofilter.

Keywords: Methane, biofiltration, pig, ammonium, nitrification, denitrification.

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836 Object Recognition Approach Based on Generalized Hough Transform and Color Distribution Serving in Generating Arabic Sentences

Authors: Nada Farhani, Naim Terbeh, Mounir Zrigui

Abstract:

The recognition of the objects contained in images has always presented a challenge in the field of research because of several difficulties that the researcher can envisage because of the variability of shape, position, contrast of objects, etc. In this paper, we will be interested in the recognition of objects. The classical Hough Transform (HT) presented a tool for detecting straight line segments in images. The technique of HT has been generalized (GHT) for the detection of arbitrary forms. With GHT, the forms sought are not necessarily defined analytically but rather by a particular silhouette. For more precision, we proposed to combine the results from the GHT with the results from a calculation of similarity between the histograms and the spatiograms of the images. The main purpose of our work is to use the concepts from recognition to generate sentences in Arabic that summarize the content of the image.

Keywords: Recognition of shape, generalized hough transformation, histogram, Spatiogram, learning.

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835 Screening of Potential Sources of Tannin and Its Therapeutic Application

Authors: Mamta Kumari, Shashi Jain

Abstract:

Tannins are a unique category of plant phytochemicals especially in terms of their vast potential health-benefiting properties. Researchers have described the capacity of tannins to enhance glucose uptake and inhibit adipogenesis, thus being potential drugs for the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Thus, the present research was conducted to find out tannin content of food products. The percentage of tannin in various analyzed sources ranged from 0.0 to 108.53%; highest in kathaa and lowest in ker and mango bark. The percentage of tannins present in the plants, however, varies. Numerous studies have confirmed that the naturally occurring polyphenols are key factor for the beneficial effects of the herbal medicines. Isolation and identification of active constituents from plants, preparation of standardized dose & dosage regimen can play a significant role in improving the hypoglycaemic action.

Keywords: Tannins, Diabetes, Polyphenols, Antioxidants, Hypoglycemia.

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834 Support Vector Machine for Persian Font Recognition

Authors: A. Borji, M. Hamidi

Abstract:

In this paper we examine the use of global texture analysis based approaches for the purpose of Persian font recognition in machine-printed document images. Most existing methods for font recognition make use of local typographical features and connected component analysis. However derivation of such features is not an easy task. Gabor filters are appropriate tools for texture analysis and are motivated by human visual system. Here we consider document images as textures and use Gabor filter responses for identifying the fonts. The method is content independent and involves no local feature analysis. Two different classifiers Weighted Euclidean Distance and SVM are used for the purpose of classification. Experiments on seven different type faces and four font styles show average accuracy of 85% with WED and 82% with SVM classifier over typefaces

Keywords: Persian font recognition, support vector machine, gabor filter.

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833 Effect of Body Size and Condition Factor on Whole Body Composition of Hybrid (Catla catla ♂x Labeo rohita ♀) from Pakistan

Authors: Muhammad Naeem, Abdus Salam, Muhammad Asghar Bashir, Abir Ishtiaq, Qurat-ul-Ane Gillani and Asma Salam

Abstract:

In the present study, 49 Hybrid (Catla catla ♂ x Labeo rohita ♀) were sampled from Al-Raheem Fish Hatchery, Village Ali Pure Shamali, Jhang Road, 18 Km from Muzaffar Garh using a cast net and Live fishes were transported to research laboratory. Mean percentage for water found 79.13 %, ash 6.58 %, fat 2.22 % and protein content 12.06 % in whole wet body weight. It was observed that body constituents were found increasing in the same proportion with an increase in body weight while significant proportional increase was observed with total length. However, condition factor remained insignificant (P>0.05) with body constituents.

Keywords: Hybrid fish, Body composition, Condition factor, Predictive equations

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832 Minimizing the Broadcast Traffic in the Jordanian Discovery Schools Network using PPPoE

Authors: Sameh H. Ghwanmeh

Abstract:

Discovery schools in Jordan are connected in one flat ATM bridge network. All Schools connected to the network will hear broadcast traffic. High percentage of unwanted traffic such as broadcast, consumes the bandwidth between schools and QRC. Routers in QRC have high CPU utilization. The number of connections on the router is very high, and may exceed recommend manufacturing specifications. One way to minimize number of connections to the routers in QRC, and minimize broadcast traffic is to use PPPoE. In this study, a PPPoE solution has been presented which shows high performance for the clients when accessing the school server resources. Despite the large number of the discovery schools at MoE, the experimental results show that the PPPoE solution is able to yield a satisfactory performance for each client at the school and noticeably reduce the traffic broadcast to the QRC.

Keywords: Education, networking, performance, e-content.

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831 Performance Analysis of Search Medical Imaging Service on Cloud Storage Using Decision Trees

Authors: González A. Julio, Ramírez L. Leonardo, Puerta A. Gabriel

Abstract:

Telemedicine services use a large amount of data, most of which are diagnostic images in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and Health Level Seven (HL7) formats. Metadata is generated from each related image to support their identification. This study presents the use of decision trees for the optimization of information search processes for diagnostic images, hosted on the cloud server. To analyze the performance in the server, the following quality of service (QoS) metrics are evaluated: delay, bandwidth, jitter, latency and throughput in five test scenarios for a total of 26 experiments during the loading and downloading of DICOM images, hosted by the telemedicine group server of the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia. By applying decision trees as a data mining technique and comparing it with the sequential search, it was possible to evaluate the search times of diagnostic images in the server. The results show that by using the metadata in decision trees, the search times are substantially improved, the computational resources are optimized and the request management of the telemedicine image service is improved. Based on the experiments carried out, search efficiency increased by 45% in relation to the sequential search, given that, when downloading a diagnostic image, false positives are avoided in management and acquisition processes of said information. It is concluded that, for the diagnostic images services in telemedicine, the technique of decision trees guarantees the accessibility and robustness in the acquisition and manipulation of medical images, in improvement of the diagnoses and medical procedures in patients.

Keywords: Cloud storage, decision trees, diagnostic image, search, telemedicine.

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830 Role of Selenite and Selenate Uptake by Maize Plants in Chlorophyll A and B Content

Authors: F. Garousi, S. Veres, É. Bódi, S. Várallyay, B. Kovács

Abstract:

Extracting and determining chlorophyll pigments (chlorophyll a and b) in green leaves are the procedures based on the solvent extraction of pigments in samples using N,Ndimethylformamide as the extractant. In this study, two species of soluble inorganic selenium forms, selenite (SeIV) and selenate (SeVI) at different concentrations were investigated on maize plants that were growing in nutrient solutions during 2 weeks and at the end of the experiment, amounts of chlorophyll a and b for first and second leaves of maize were measured. In accordance with the results we observed that our regarded Se concentrations in both forms of SeIV and SeVI were not effective on maize plants’ chlorophyll a and b significantly although high level of 3 mg.kg-1 SeIV had negative affect on growth of the samples that had been treated by it but about SeVI samples we did not observe this state and our different considered SeVI concentrations were not toxic for maize plants.

Keywords: Maize, sodium selenate, sodium selenite, chlorophyll a and b.

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829 Arabic and Islamic Education in Nigeria: The Case of Al-Majiri Schools

Authors: Abdul Ganiy A. S. Oladosu

Abstract:

The AL-MAJIRI school system is a variant of private Arabic and Islamic schools which cater for the religious and moral development of Muslims. In the past, the system produced clerics, scholars, judges, religious reformers, eminent teachers and great men who are worthy of emulation, particularly in northern Nigeria. Gradually, the system lost its glory but continued to discharge its educational responsibilities to a certain extent. This paper takes a look at the activities of the AL-MAJIRI schools. The introduction provides background information about Nigeria where the schools operate. This is followed by an overview of the Nigerian educational system, the nature and the features of the AL-MAJIRI school system, its weaknesses and the current challenges facing the schools. The paper concludes with emphasis on the urgent need for a comprehensive reform of the curriculum content of the schools. The step by step procedure required for the reform is discussed.

Keywords: AL-MAJIRI, Arabic and Islamic schools, Nigeria.

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828 Learning Materials for Enhancing Sustainable Colour Fading Process of Fashion Products

Authors: C. W. Kan, H. F. Cheung, Y. S. Lee

Abstract:

This study examines the results of colour fading of cotton fabric by plasma-induced ozone treatment, with an aim to provide learning materials for fashion designers when designing colour fading effects in fashion products. Cotton knitted fabrics were dyed with red reactive dye with a colour depth of 1.5% and were subjected to ozone generated by a commercially available plasma machine for colour fading. The plasma-induced ozone treatment was conducted with different parameters: (i) air concentration = 10%, 30%, 50% and 70%; (ii) water content in fabric = 35% and 45%, and (iii) treatment time = 10 minutes, 20 minutes and 30 minutes. Finally, the colour properties of the plasma–induced ozone treated fabric were measured by spectrophotometer under illuminant D65 to obtain the CIE L*, CIE a* and CIE b* values.

Keywords: Learning materials, colour fading, colour properties, fashion products.

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827 eLearning Tools Evaluation based on Quality Concept Distance Computing. A Case Study

Authors: Mihai Caramihai, Irina Severin

Abstract:

Despite the extensive use of eLearning systems, there is no consensus on a standard framework for evaluating this kind of quality system. Hence, there is only a minimum set of tools that can supervise this judgment and gives information about the course content value. This paper presents two kinds of quality set evaluation indicators for eLearning courses based on the computational process of three known metrics, the Euclidian, Hamming and Levenshtein distances. The “distance" calculus is applied to standard evaluation templates (i.e. the European Commission Programme procedures vs. the AFNOR Z 76-001 Standard), determining a reference point in the evaluation of the e-learning course quality vs. the optimal concept(s). The case study, based on the results of project(s) developed in the framework of the European Programme “Leonardo da Vinci", with Romanian contractors, try to put into evidence the benefits of such a method.

Keywords: eLearning, European programme, metrics, quality evaluation

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826 Lecture Video Indexing and Retrieval Using Topic Keywords

Authors: B. J. Sandesh, Saurabha Jirgi, S. Vidya, Prakash Eljer, Gowri Srinivasa

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a framework to help users to search and retrieve the portions in the lecture video of their interest. This is achieved by temporally segmenting and indexing the lecture video using the topic keywords. We use transcribed text from the video and documents relevant to the video topic extracted from the web for this purpose. The keywords for indexing are found by applying the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) topic modeling techniques on the web documents. Our proposed technique first creates indices on the transcribed documents using the topic keywords, and these are mapped to the video to find the start and end time of the portions of the video for a particular topic. This time information is stored in the index table along with the topic keyword which is used to retrieve the specific portions of the video for the query provided by the users.

Keywords: Video indexing and retrieval, lecture videos, content based video search, multimodal indexing.

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825 The Wine List Design by Upscale Restaurants

Authors: A. Oliveira-Brochado, R. Vinhas da Silva

Abstract:

This paper investigates the structure and content of the wine lists in upscale restaurants in Portugal (N=61). The respondents considered that a wine list should be easy to use and to modify, welldesigned, modern and varied. Respondents also stated that they perform on average 6 revisions to the wine list per year. The restaurant owner, the restaurant manager and the sommelier were the main persons in charge of the wine list design. One of the most important reasons for selecting wines across most restaurants was to ‘complement the menu’ and ‘pairing food with wine’. Restaurants also reported to be relatively independent from suppliers and magazine evaluations. Moreover, this work revealed that the restaurant wine list is considered by restaurateurs as a strategic tool to sell wine as a complement to the menu, to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, to increase restaurant value and to enhance a successful positioning.

Keywords: Portugal, restaurants, wine list design.

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824 An Empirical Investigation on the Dynamics of Knowledge and IT Industries in Korea

Authors: Sang Ho Lee, Tae Heon Moon, Youn Taik Leem, Kwang Woo Nam

Abstract:

Knowledge and IT inputs to other industrial production have become more important as a key factor for the competitiveness of national and regional economies, such as knowledge economies in smart cities. Knowledge and IT industries lead the industrial innovation and technical (r)evolution through low cost, high efficiency in production, and by creating a new value chain and new production path chains, which is referred as knowledge and IT dynamics. This study aims to investigate the knowledge and IT dynamics in Korea, which are analyzed through the input-output model and structural path analysis. Twenty-eight industries were reclassified into seven categories; Agriculture and Mining, IT manufacture, Non-IT manufacture, Construction, IT-service, Knowledge service, Non-knowledge service to take close look at the knowledge and IT dynamics. Knowledge and IT dynamics were analyzed through the change of input output coefficient and multiplier indices in terms of technical innovation, as well as the changes of the structural paths of the knowledge and IT to other industries in terms of new production value creation from 1985 and 2010. The structural paths of knowledge and IT explain not only that IT foster the generation, circulation and use of knowledge through IT industries and IT-based service, but also that knowledge encourages IT use through creating, sharing and managing knowledge. As a result, this paper found the empirical investigation on the knowledge and IT dynamics of the Korean economy. Knowledge and IT has played an important role regarding the inter-industrial transactional input for production, as well as new industrial creation. The birth of the input-output production path has mostly originated from the knowledge and IT industries, while the death of the input-output production path took place in the traditional industries from 1985 and 2010. The Korean economy has been in transition to a knowledge economy in the Smart City.

Keywords: Knowledge and IT industries, input-output model, structural path analysis, dynamics of knowledge and IT, knowledge economy, knowledge city, smart city.

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823 High Capacity Reversible Watermarking through Interpolated Error Shifting

Authors: Hae-Yeoun Lee

Abstract:

Reversible watermarking that not only protects the copyright but also preserve the original quality of the digital content have been intensively studied. In particular, the demand for reversible watermarking has increased. In this paper, we propose a reversible watermarking scheme based on interpolation-error shifting and error pre-compensation. The intensity of a pixel is interpolated from the intensities of neighboring pixels, and the difference histogram between the interpolated and the original intensities is obtained and modified to embed the watermark message. By restoring the difference histogram, the embedded watermark is extracted and the original image is recovered by compensating for the interpolation error. The overflow and underflow are prevented by error pre-compensation. To show the performance of the method, the proposed algorithm is compared with other methods using various test images.

Keywords: Reversible watermarking, High capacity, High quality, Interpolated error shifting, Error pre-compensation.

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822 Pre-Service EFL Teachers' Perceptions of Written Corrective Feedback in a Wiki-Based Environment

Authors: Mabel Ortiz, Claudio Díaz

Abstract:

This paper explores Chilean pre-service teachers' perceptions about the provision of corrective feedback in a wiki environment during the collaborative writing of an argumentative essay. After conducting a semi-structured interview on 22 participants, the data were processed through the content analysis technique. The results show that students have positive perceptions about corrective feedback, provided through a wiki virtual environment, which in turn facilitates feedback provision and impacts language learning effectively. Some of the positive perceptions about virtual feedback refer to permanent access, efficiency, simultaneous revision and immediacy. It would then be advisable to integrate wiki-based feedback as a methodology for the language classroom and collaborative writing tasks.

Keywords: Argumentative essay, focused corrective feedback, perception, wiki environment.

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821 The National Security Assurance of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Authors: Sholpan Zhandossova, Erden Ordabek, Yelbolsyn Nazarov

Abstract:

the article analyzes the national security as a scientific and practical problem, characterized by the state's political institutions to ensure effective action to maintain optimal conditions for the existence and development of the individual and society. National security, as a category of political science reflects the relationship between the security to the nation, including public relations and social consciousness, social institutions and their activities, ensuring the realization of national interests in a particular historical situation. In national security are three security levels: individual, society and state. Their role and place determined by the nature of social relations, political systems, the presence of internal and external threats. In terms of content in the concept of national security is taken to provide political, economic, military, environmental, information security and safety of the cultural development of the nation.

Keywords: Kazakhstan, national security, religious extremism

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