Search results for: resistance to change.

Authors: Irina Pyrlina

Abstract:

Author presents the results of a study conducted to identify criteria of efficient information system (IS) with serviceoriented architecture (SOA) realization and proposes a ranking method to evaluate SOA information systems using a set of architecture quality criteria before the systems are implemented. The method is used to compare 7 SOA projects and ranking result for SOA efficiency of the projects is provided. The choice of SOA realization project depends on following criteria categories: IS internal work and organization, SOA policies, guidelines and change management, processes and business services readiness, risk management and mitigation. The last criteria category was analyzed on the basis of projects statistics.

Keywords: multiple criteria threshold algorithm, serviceoriented architecture, SOA operational risks, efficiency criteria for IS architecture, projects ranking.

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Authors: Parisa Tajer-Mohammad-Ghazvini, Rouha Kasra-Kermanshahi, Ahmad Nozad-Golikand, Majid Sadeghizadeh

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Bacterial magnetic nanoparticles have great useful potential in biotechnological and biomedical applications. In this study, a liquid growth medium was modified for cultivation a fastidious magnetotactic bacterium that has been isolated from Anzali lagoon, Iran in our previous research. These modifications include change in vitamin, mineral, carbon sources and etcetera. In our experience, the serum bottles and designed air-tight laboratory bottles were used to create microaerobic conditions in order to development of a method for scale-up experiment. This information may serve as a guide to green chemistry based biological protocols for the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles with control over the chemical composition, morphology and size.

Keywords: Green chemistry, Magnetosome, Magnetotactic bacteria, Magnetic nanoparticles, Nano-Biotechnology.

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Authors: Sakura Yoshii, Masakazu Abe, Akihiro Iijima

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Nitrogen saturation has become one of the serious issues in the field of forest environment. The watershed protection forests located in the downwind hinterland of Tokyo Metropolitan Area are believed to be facing nitrogen saturation. In this study, we carefully focus on the balance of nitrogen between load and runoff. Annual nitrogen load via atmospheric deposition was estimated to 461.1 t-N/year in the upper reaches of the Kanna River. Annual nitrogen runoff to the forested headwater stream of the Kanna River was determined to 184.9 t-N/year, corresponding to 40.1% of the total nitrogen load. Clear seasonal change in NO₃-N concentration was still observed. Therefore, watershed protection forest of the Kanna River is most likely to be in Stage-1 on the status of nitrogen saturation.

Keywords: Atmospheric deposition, Nitrogen accumulation, Denitrification, Forest ecosystems.

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Authors: Cauvery N. K., K. V. Viswanatha

Abstract:

Mobile Ad hoc network consists of a set of mobile nodes. It is a dynamic network which does not have fixed topology. This network does not have any infrastructure or central administration, hence it is called infrastructure-less network. The change in topology makes the route from source to destination as dynamic fixed and changes with respect to time. The nature of network requires the algorithm to perform route discovery, maintain route and detect failure along the path between two nodes [1]. This paper presents the enhancements of ARA [2] to improve the performance of routing algorithm. ARA [2] finds route between nodes in mobile ad-hoc network. The algorithm is on-demand source initiated routing algorithm. This is based on the principles of swarm intelligence. The algorithm is adaptive, scalable and favors load balancing. The improvements suggested in this paper are handling of loss ants and resource reservation.

Keywords: Ad hoc networks, On-demand routing, Swarmintelligence.

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Authors: Salem Ali Jebreil

Abstract:

In this work, a polyaniline/Iron oxide (PANI/Fe2O3) composite was chemically prepared by oxidative polymerization of aniline in acid medium, in presence of ammonium persulphate as an oxidant and amount of Fe2O3. The composite was characterized by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The prepared composite has been used as adsorbent to remove Tartrazine dye form aqueous solutions. The effects of initial dye concentration and temperature on the adsorption capacity of PANI/Fe2O3 for Tartrazine dye have been studied in this paper. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models have been used for the mathematical description of adsorption equilibrium data. The best fit is obtained using the Freundlich isotherm with an R2 value of 0.998. The change of Gibbs energy, enthalpy, and entropy of adsorption has been also evaluated for the adsorption of Tartrazine onto PANI/ Fe2O3. It has been proved according the results that the adsorption process is endothermic in nature.

Keywords: Adsorption, Composite, dye, Polyaniline, Tartrazine.

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Authors: Débora V. Busman, Venerando E. Amaro, Mattheus da C. Prudêncio

Abstract:

Prognostic studies of the shoreline are of utmost importance for Ponta Negra Beach, located in Natal, Northeastern Brazil, where the infrastructure recently built along the shoreline is severely affected by flooding and erosion. This study compares shoreline predictions using three linear regression methods (LMS, LRR and WLR) and tries to discern the best method for different shoreline position scenarios. The methods have shown erosion on the beach in each of the scenarios tested, even in less intense dynamic conditions. The WLA_A with confidence interval of 95% was the well-adjusted model and calculated a retreat of -1.25 m/yr to -2.0 m/yr in hot spot areas. The change of the shoreline on Ponta Negra Beach can be measured as a negative exponential curve. Analysis of these methods has shown a correlation with the morphodynamic stage of the beach.

Keywords: Coastal Erosion, Prognostic Model, DSAS.

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Authors: J. R. Mudakavi, K. Puttanna

Abstract:

Chromium in the environment is considered as one of the most toxic elements probably next only to mercury and arsenic. It is acutely toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic in the environment. Chromium contamination of soil and underground water due to industrial activities is a very serious problem in several parts of India covering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh etc. Functionally modified Activated Carbon Fabrics (ACF) offer targeted chromium removal from drinking water and industrial effluents. Activated carbon fabric is a light weight adsorbing material with high surface area and low resistance to fluid flow. We have investigated surface modification of ACF using various acids in the laboratory through batch as well as through continuous flow column experiments with a view to develop the optimum conditions for chromium removal. Among the various acids investigated, phosphoric acid modified ACF gave best results with a removal efficiency of 95% under optimum conditions. Optimum pH was around 2 – 4 with 2 hours contact time. Continuous column experiments with an effective bed contact time (EBCT) of 5 minutes indicated that breakthrough occurred after 300 bed volumes. Adsorption data followed a Freundlich isotherm pattern. Nickel adsorbs preferentially and sulphate reduces chromium adsorption by 50%. The ACF could be regenerated up to 52.3% using 3 M NaOH under optimal conditions. The process is simple, economical, energy efficient and applicable to industrial effluents and drinking water.

Keywords: Activated carbon fabric, adsorption, drinking water, hexavalent chromium.

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Authors: Li Wu

Abstract:

Plant ecological stoichiometry, which is one of the most important tools to connect the components among different levels of ecosystem, has obtained increasingly extensive concern, especially on its responses to the environmental gradients. Based on the published literatures and datasets, this article focused on reviewing the variable responses of plant foliar ecological stoichiometry to the climatic factors, such as temperature, water, elevated CO₂, and found that foliar ecological stoichiometry responded dynamically to climatic variations among different regions and different growth forms. Then, research status and deficiency were summarized and the expectation on studying the relationships between plant C, N and P ecological stoichiometry and environmental variations which can provide a reference to understand how plants will respond to global change in the future was pointed out.

Keywords: Climatic variations, terrestrial plant, foliar ecological stoichiometry, temperature, precipitation, drought, elevated CO2.

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Authors: Thienhuong Hoang

Abstract:

This qualitative, quantitative mixed-method study explores how students- motivation and interest in creative hands-on activities affected their conceptual understanding of science. The objectives of this research include developing a greater understanding about how creative activities, incorporated into the classroom as instructional strategies, increase student motivation and their learning or mastery of science concepts. The creative activities are viewed as a motivational tool, a specific type of task, which have an impact on student goals. Pre-and-post tests, pre-and-post interviews, and student responses measure motivational-goal theory variables, interest in the activity, and conceptual change. Implications for education and future research will be discussed.

Keywords: Science education, motivation, conceptual understanding, instructional strategies.

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Authors: Funmilola O. Omoya, Abdul O. Momoh

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Malaria constitutes one of the major health problems in Nigeria. One of the reasons attributed for the upsurge was the development of resistance of Plasmodium falciparum and the emergence of multi-resistant strains of the parasite to anti-malaria drugs. A continued search for other effective, safe and cheap plantbased anti-malaria agents thus becomes imperative in the face of these difficulties. The objective of this study is therefore to evaluate the in vivo anti-malarial efficacy of ethanolic extracts of Chromolaena odorata and Androgaphis paniculata leaves. The two plants were evaluated for their anti-malaria efficacy in vivo in a 4-day curative test assay against Plasmodium berghei strain in mice. The group treated with 500mg/ml dose of ethanolic extract of A. paniculata plant showed parasite suppression with increase in Packed Cell Volume (PCV) value except day 3 which showed a slight decrease in PCV value. During the 4-day curative test, an increase in the PCV values, weight measurement and zero count of Plasmodium berghei parasite values was recorded after day 3 of drug administration. These results obtained in group treated with A. paniculata extract showed anti-malarial efficacy with higher mortality rate in parasitaemia count when compared with Chromolaena odorata group. These results justify the use of ethanolic extracts of A. paniculata plant as medicinal herb used in folklore medicine in the treatment of malaria.

Keywords: Anti-malaria, Curative, Plant-based anti-malaria agents.

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Authors: HoYoung Son, Ki Young Kim, Woo Young Jung

Abstract:

This study investigated the change of weir structure performances when durability of concrete, which is the main material of weir structure, decreased due to their aging by mean of seismic fragility analysis. In the analysis, it was assumed that the elastic modulus of concrete was reduced by 10% in order to account for their aged deterioration. Additionally, the analysis of seismic fragility was based on Monte Carlo Simulation method combined with a 2D nonlinear finite element in ABAQUS platform with the consideration of deterioration of concrete. Finally, the comparison of seismic fragility of model pre- and post-deterioration was made to study the performance of weir. Results show that the probability of failure in moderate damage for deteriorated model was found to be larger than pre-deterioration model when peak ground acceleration (PGA) passed 0.4 g.

Keywords: Weir, FEM, concrete, fragility, aging.

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Authors: Xu Huang, Jing Fan, Maonian Wu, Yonggen Gu

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This paper discusses the design of an indoor mobile robot positioning system. The problem of indoor positioning is solved through Wi-Fi fingerprint positioning to implement a low cost deployment. A wireless fingerprint matching algorithm based on the similarity of unequal length sequences is presented. Candidate sequences selection is defined as a set of mappings, and detection errors caused by wireless hotspot stability and the change of interior pattern can be corrected by transforming the unequal length sequences into equal length sequences. The presented scheme was verified experimentally to achieve the accuracy requirements for an indoor positioning system with low deployment cost.

Keywords: Fingerprint match, indoor positioning, mobile robot positioning system, Wi-Fi, wireless fingerprint.

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Authors: Mohamed A. Abou-Shouk, Mahamoud M. Hewedi

Abstract:

This study extends technology acceptance model (TAM) to investigate the antecedents and consequences of social media adoption by tourists and travel agents. It compares their perceptions on social media adoption and its consequences. Online survey was addressed to tourists and travel agents for data collection purposes. Structural equation modelling was employed for analysis purposes. The findings revealed that the majority of tourists and travel agents involved in the study believe in the usefulness of social media adoption for travel planning and marketing purposes. They agree that adopting social media could change the attitude of tourists towards specific destination or attraction and influence their purchasing decisions. This study contributes to knowledge by extending TAM and provides some managerial implication to marketers.

Keywords: TAM, social media, travel, tourism, travel agents.

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Authors: Nora Taleb, Sellami Mokhtar, Michel Simonet

Abstract:

This work concerns the evolution and the maintenance of an ontological resource in relation with the evolution of the corpus of texts from which it had been built. The knowledge forming a text corpus, especially in dynamic domains, is in continuous evolution. When a change in the corpus occurs, the domain ontology must evolve accordingly. Most methods manage ontology evolution independently from the corpus from which it is built; in addition, they treat evolution just as a process of knowledge addition, not considering other knowledge changes. We propose a methodology for managing an evolving ontology from a text corpus that evolves over time, while preserving the consistency and the persistence of this ontology. Our methodology is based on the changes made on the corpus to reflect the evolution of the considered domain - augmented surgery in our case. In this context, the results of text mining techniques, as well as the ARCHONTE method slightly modified, are used to support the evolution process.

Keywords: Corpus, Evolution, Ontology

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Authors: N. Das, N. Samanta, L. Pandey, C. Roy Chaudhuri

Abstract:

Early diagnosis of infection like Hep-B virus in blood is important for low cost medical treatment. For this purpose, it is desirable to develop a point of care device which should be able to detect trace quantities of the target molecule in blood. In this paper, we report a nanoporous silicon oxide sensor which is capable of detecting down to 1fM concentration of Hep-B surface antigen in blood without the requirement of any centrifuge or pre-concentration. This has been made possible by the presence of resonant peak in the sensitivity characteristics. This peak is observed to be dependent only on the concentration of the specific antigen and not on the interfering species in blood serum. The occurrence of opposite impedance change within the pores and at the bottom of the pore is responsible for this effect. An electronic interface has also been designed to provide a display of the virus concentration.

Keywords: Impedance spectroscopy, Ultrasensitive detection in blood, Peak frequency, Electronic interface.

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Authors: Namchul Do, Jihun Cho

Abstract:

Modeling product configurations needs large amounts of knowledge about technical and marketing restrictions on the product. Previous attempts to automate product configurations concentrate on representations and management of the knowledge for specific domains in fixed and isolated computing environments. Since the knowledge about product configurations is subject to continuous change and hard to express, these attempts often failed to efficiently manage and exchange the knowledge in collaborative product development. In this paper, XML Topic Map (XTM) is introduced to represent and exchange the knowledge about product configurations in collaborative product development. A product configuration model based on XTM along with its merger and inference facilities enables configuration engineers in collaborative product development to manage and exchange their knowledge efficiently. A prototype implementation is also presented to demonstrate the proposed model can be applied to engineering information systems to exchange the product configuration knowledge.

Keywords: Knowledge exchange, product configurations, XML topic map.

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Authors: Chien-Yeh Hsu, Yuan-Ching Chiang, Zi-Jie Chien, Sih-Li Chen

Abstract:

In this study, a field experiment and performance analysis of air-tunnel heat exchanger integrated with water-filled raft foundation of residential building were performed. In order to obtain better performance, conventional applications of air-tunnel inevitably have high initial cost or issues about insufficient installation space. To improve the feasibility of air tunnel heat exchanger in high-density housing, an integrated system consisting of air pipes immersed in the water-filled raft foundation was presented, taking advantage of immense amount of water and relatively stable temperature in raft foundation of building. The foundation-integrated air tunnel was applied to a residential building located in Yilan, Taiwan, and its thermal performance was measured in the field experiment. The results indicated that the cooling potential of integrated system was close to the potential of soil-based EAHE at 2 m depth or deeper. An analytical model based on thermal resistance method was validated by measurement results, and was used to carry out the dimensioning of foundation-integrated air tunnel. The discrepancies between calculated value and measured data were less than 2.7%. In addition, the return-on-investment with regard to thermal performance and economics of the application was evaluated. Because the installation for air tunnel is scheduled in the building foundation construction, the utilization of integrated system spends less construction cost compare to the conventional earth-air tunnel.

Keywords: Air tunnel, ground heat exchanger, raft foundation, residential building.

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Authors: Bishnupriya Sahoo, Prasad K. Bhaskaran

Abstract:

Tropical cyclone is one among the worst natural hazards that results in a trail of destruction causing enormous damage to life, property, and coastal infrastructures. In a global perspective, the Indian Ocean is considered as one of the cyclone prone basins in the world. Specifically, the frequency of cyclogenesis in the Bay of Bengal is higher compared to the Arabian Sea. Out of the four maritime states in the East coast of India, Odisha is highly susceptible to tropical cyclone landfall. Historical records clearly decipher the fact that the frequency of cyclones have reduced in this basin. However, in the recent decades, the intensity and size of tropical cyclones have increased. This is a matter of concern as the risk and vulnerability level of Odisha coast exposed to high wind speed and gusts during cyclone landfall have increased. In this context, there is a need to assess and evaluate the severity of coastal risk, area of exposure under risk, and associated vulnerability with a higher dimension in a multi-risk perspective. Changing climate can result in the emergence of a new hazard and vulnerability over a region with differential spatial and socio-economic impact. Hence there is a need to have coastal vulnerability projections in a changing climate scenario. With this motivation, the present study attempts to estimate the destructiveness of tropical cyclones based on Power Dissipation Index (PDI) for those cyclones that made landfall along Odisha coast that exhibits an increasing trend based on historical data. The study also covers the futuristic scenarios of integral coastal vulnerability based on the trends in PDI for the Odisha coast. This study considers 11 essential and important parameters; the cyclone intensity, storm surge, onshore inundation, mean tidal range, continental shelf slope, topo-graphic elevation onshore, rate of shoreline change, maximum wave height, relative sea level rise, rainfall distribution, and coastal geomorphology. The study signifies that over a decadal scale, the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) depends largely on the incremental change in variables such as cyclone intensity, storm surge, and associated inundation. In addition, the study also performs a critical analysis on the modulation of PDI on storm surge and inundation characteristics for the entire coastal belt of Odisha State. Interestingly, the study brings to light that a linear correlation exists between the storm-tide with PDI. The trend analysis of PDI and its projection for coastal Odisha have direct practical applications in effective coastal zone management and vulnerability assessment.

Keywords: Bay of Bengal, coastal vulnerability index, power dissipation index, tropical cyclone.

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Authors: Kawinphat Lertpongmanee

Abstract:

The development of One Tambon One Product (OTOP) became the policy of the government in 1997 after the former Prime Minister had been in power. The strategy of sections is currently set for the policy. OTOP has become the part of the way of community lives around the country. OTOP may be developed under changing into ASEAN economic community in 2015 because of the flow of capitals, productions, and many workers in the region. All sectors are improved for the change. The purposes of study were to study the strength and weakness of the OTOP-creating process via its policy and to lead to the strategy to be able to apply before changing. The methodology is qualitative to study its policy including document and to interview experienced persons. The findings showed that the effort of improvement of all sectors obviously involves with OTOP development. Particularly, the strategic administration of OTOP is in every level of the state, central sector, region, and community.

Keywords: ASEAN Economic Community – AEC, One Tambon One Product – OTOP.

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Authors: P. Fazel

Abstract:

These days we face with so many advertisements in magazines, those mentioned coaching is pragmatic specialties which help people make change in their lives. Up to know Specialty coaches are not necessarily therapists, consultants or psychologist, thus they may not know psychological theories. The International Coach Federation identifies "facilitating learning and results" as one of its four core coach competencies, without understanding learning theories coaching practice hangs in theoretical abyss. Thus the aim of this article is investigating learning theories within coaching process. Therefore, I reviewed some cognitive and behavioral learning theories and analyzed their contribution with coaching process which has been introduced in mentor coaches and ICF certified coaches' papers and books. The result demonstrated that coaching profession is strongly grounded in learning theories, and it will be strengthened by the validation of theories and evidence-based research as we move forward. Thus, it needs more research in order to applying effective theoretical frameworks.

Keywords: Coaching, Learning theories. Cognitive learning theories, behavioral learning theories.

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Authors: Roelien Goede

Abstract:

Information systems practitioners are frequently required to master new technology, often without the aid of formal training. They require the skill to manage their own learning and, when this skill is developed in their formal training, their adaptability to new technology may be improved. Self- directed learning is the ability of the learner to manage his or her own learning experience with some guidance from a facilitator. Self-directed learning skills are best improved when practiced. This paper reflects on a critical social research project to improve the self-directed learning skills of fourth year Information Systems students. Critical social research differs from other research paradigms in that the researcher is viewed as the agent of change to achieve the desired outcome in the problem situation.

Keywords: Action Research, Critical Social Research, Information Systems Education, Self-directed Learning.

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Authors: Jadwiga Królikowska, Andrzej Królikowski, Jarosław Bajer

Abstract:

The work delineates the threats of maladjustment of the capacity of rain canals, designed and built in the early 20th century, in connection to heavy rainfall, especially in summer. This is the cause of the so called 'urban floods.' It directly relates to fierce raise of paving in the cities. Resolving this problem requires a change in philosophy of draining the rainfall by wider use of retention, infiltration and usage of rainwater.

In systemic approach to managing the safety of urban drainage systems the risk, which is directly connected to safety failures, has been accepted as a measure. The risk level defines the probability of occurrence of losses greater than the ones forecast for a given time frame. The procedure of risk modelling, enabling its numeric analysis by using appropriate weights, is a significant issue in this paper.

Keywords: Drainage system, urban areas, risk measurement.

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Authors: Kadkhodaie A., Bagheri M.

Abstract:

Evaluation of crop plants resistance to environmental stresses specially in germination stage is a critical factor in their selection in different conditions of cultivation. Therefore use of a procedure in controllable situation can help to evaluate plants reaction to stress quickly and precisely. In order to study germination characteristics of flax in water and salinity stress conditions were conducted two laboratories experimental. The two experimental were conducted in 4-replicant completing random design for salinity and water stress. The treatment, for salinity and water stress was three potential (zero, 40, 80 mM) of NaCl and three potential (zero, -2, -4 bar) of PEG respectively. Germination percentage and rate, in addition to Radical and plumule length and dry-weight and plumule/Radical ration were measured. All of characteristics reduce under water stress conditions. salinity stress significant reduce germination rate and Radical and plumule length of flax seeds. Hydropriming and osmopriming significant increased germination rate, plumule length and plumule/Radical ration ration of flax seeds. But germination percentage and Radical and plumule dry weight significant increased only in hydropriming treat. Hydropriming and osmopriming could not be used to improved germination under saline and drought stress. But has more tolerance in salinity and drought stress in flax by less reduce in Radical and plumule length under saline and drought stress.

Keywords: linseed, salt stress, water stress, seed treatment, Germination

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Authors: Hend S.H. Hassan, Essam M. Shehab, Joe Peppard

Abstract:

E-government projects have potential for greater efficiency and effectiveness of government operations. For this reason, many developing countries governments have invested heavily in this agenda and an increasing number of e-government projects are being implemented. However, there is a lack of clear case material, which describes the potentialities and consequence experienced by organizations trying to manage with this change. The Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD) is the organization responsible for the e-Government program in Egypt since early 2004. This paper presents a case study of the process of admission to public universities and institutions in Egypt which is led by MSAD. Underlining the key benefits resulting from the initiative, explaining the strategies and the development steps used to implement it, and highlighting the main obstacles encountered and how they were overcome will help repeat the experience in other useful e-government projects.

Keywords: Case studies, Egypt, Electronic government, Electronic services, University enrolment.

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Authors: V.O. Ojijo, M.S. Onyango, Aoyi Ochieng, F.A.O. Otieno

Abstract:

Batch adsorption of recalcitrant melanoidin using the abundantly available coal fly ash was carried out. It had low specific surface area (SBET) of 1.7287 m2/g and pore volume of 0.002245 cm3/g while qualitative evaluation of the predominant phases in it was done by XRD analysis. Colour removal efficiency was found to be dependent on various factors studied. Maximum colour removal was achieved around pH 6, whereas increasing sorbent mass from 10g/L to 200 g/L enhanced colour reduction from 25% to 86% at 298 K. Spontaneity of the process was suggested by negative Gibbs free energy while positive values for enthalpy change showed endothermic nature of the process. Non-linear optimization of error functions resulted in Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson isotherms describing sorption equilibrium data best. The coal fly ash had maximum sorption capacity of 53 mg/g and could thus be used as a low cost adsorbent in melanoidin removal.

Keywords: Adsorption, Isotherms, Melanoidin, South African coal fly ash.

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Authors: A. Chatterjee, A. Sarkar, N. Gayathri, P. Mukherjee, P. Barat

Abstract:

An experimental study is presented on the effect of microstructural change on the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect behaviour of Al-2.5%Mg alloy. Tensile tests are performed on the as received and heat treated (at 400 ºC for 16 hours) samples for a wide range of strain rates. The serrations observed in the stress-time curve are investigated from statistical analysis point of view. Microstructures of the samples are characterized by optical metallography and X-ray diffraction. It is found that the excess vacancy generated due to heat treatment leads to decrease in the strain rate sensitivity and the increase in the number of stress drop occurrences per unit time during the PLC effect. The microstructural parameters like domain size, dislocation density have no appreciable effect on the PLC effect as far as the statistical behavior of the serrations is considered.

Keywords: Dynamic strain ageing, Heat treatment, Portevin-LeChatelier effect

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Authors: Yin-Yann Chen

Abstract:

As the gradual increase of the enterprise scale, the firms may possess many manufacturing plants located in different places geographically. This change will result in the multi-site production planning problems under the environment of multiple plants or production resources. Our research proposes the structural framework to analyze the multi-site planning problems. The analytical framework is composed of six elements: multi-site conceptual model, product structure (bill of manufacturing), production strategy, manufacturing capability and characteristics, production planning constraints, and key performance indicators. As well as the discussion of these six ingredients, we also review related literatures in this paper to match our analytical framework. Finally we take a real-world practical example of a TFT-LCD manufacturer in Taiwan to explain our proposed analytical framework for the multi-site production planning problems.

Keywords: Multi-Site, Production Planning, Supply Chain, TFT-LCD.

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Authors: L. Strauta, S. Muižniece-Brasava

Abstract:

Even though legumes possess high nutritional value and have a rather high protein content for plant origin products, they are underutilized mostly due to their lengthy cooking time. To increase the presence of legume-based products in human diet, new extruded products were made of cow peas (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.). But as it is known, adding different moisture content to flour before extrusion can change the physical properties of the extruded product. Experiments were carried out to estimate the optimal moisture content for cow pea extrusion. After extrusion, the pH level had dropped from 6.7 to 6.5 and the lowest hardness rate was observed in the samples with additional 9 g 100g^-1 of moisture - 28±4N, but the volume mass of the samples with additional 9 g100g^-1 of water was 263±3 g L^-1; all samples were approximately 7±1mm long.

Keywords: Cow pea, extrusion-cooking, moisture, size.

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Authors: J. H. Kim, J. H. Kwon, J. S. Park, K. J. Lim

Abstract:

This paper has been investigated a technique that predicts the performance of a bar-type unimorph piezoelectric vibration actuator depending on the frequency. This paper has been proposed an equivalent circuit that can be easily analyzed for the bar-type unimorph piezoelectric vibration actuator. In the dynamic analysis, rigidity and resonance frequency, which are important mechanical elements, were derived using the basic beam theory. In the equivalent circuit analysis, the displacement and bandwidth of the piezoelectric vibration actuator depending on the frequency were predicted. Also, for the reliability of the derived equations, the predicted performance depending on the shape change was compared with the result of a finite element analysis program.

Keywords: Actuator, performance, piezoelectric, unimorph.Actuator, performance, piezoelectric, unimorph.

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Authors: Ruth Lijtmaer, Roy Moodley, Shafik Sunderani

Abstract:

The argument that self-disclosure will change the psychoanalytic process into a socio-cultural niche distorting the therapeutic alliance and compromise therapeutic effectiveness is still the widely held belief amongst many psychotherapists. This paper considers the issues surrounding culture, disclosure and concealment since they remain largely untheorized and clinically problematic. The first part of the paper will critically examine the theory and practice of psychoanalysis across cultures, and explore the reasons for culturally diverse patients to conceal rather than disclose their feelings and thoughts in the transference. This is followed by a discussion on how immigrant analysts- anonymity is difficult to maintain since diverse nationalities, language and accents provide clues to the therapist-s and patient-s origins. Through personal clinical examples of one the author-s (who is an immigrant) the paper analyses the transference-countertransference paradigm and how it reflects in the analyst-s self-revelation.

Keywords: Self-disclosure, cross-cultural, transferencecountertransference, immigrant therapist.

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