Search results for: Complex survey

Authors: Peter Jurči, Jana Ptačinová, Mária Hudáková, Mária Dománková, Martin Kusý, Martin Sahul

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The strength, hardness, and toughness (ductility) are in strong conflict for the metallic materials. The only possibility how to make their simultaneous improvement is to provide the microstructural refinement, by cold deformation, and subsequent recrystallization. However, application of this kind of treatment is impossible for high-carbon high-alloyed ledeburitic tool steels. Alternatively, it has been demonstrated over the last few years that sub-zero treatment induces some microstructural changes in these materials, which might favourably influence their complex of mechanical properties. Commercially available PM ledeburitic steel Vanadis 6 has been used for the current investigations. The paper demonstrates that sub-zero treatment induces clear refinement of the martensite, reduces the amount of retained austenite, enhances the population density of fine carbides, and makes alterations in microstructural development that take place during tempering. As a consequence, the steel manifests improved wear resistance at higher toughness and fracture toughness. Based on the obtained results, the key question “can the wear performance be improved by sub-zero treatment simultaneously with toughness” can be answered by “definitely yes”.

Keywords: Ledeburitic tool steels, microstructure, sub-zero treatment, mechanical properties.

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Authors: Muhammad Yasir Babar, Ebrahim Panah

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Over the past 20 years, internet has seen continual advancement and with the advent of online technology, various types of web-based games have been developed. Games are frequently being used among different age groups from baby boomers to generation Z. Games are not only used for entertainment but also utilized as a learning approach transmitting education to a level that is more interesting and effective for students. One of the popular web-based education games is Kahoot with growing popularity and usage, which is being used in different fields of studies. However, little knowledge is available on university students’ perception of Kahoot environment and application for learning subjects. Hence, the objective of the current study is to investigate students’ perceptions of Kahoot application and environment as a learning tool. The study employed a survey approach by distributing Google Forms –created questionnaire, with high level of reliability index, to 62 students (11 males and 51 females). The findings show that students have positive attitudes towards Kahoot application and its environment for learning. Regarding Kahoot application, it was indicated that activities created using Kahoot are more interesting for students, Kahoot is useful for collaborative learning, and Kahoot enhances interest in learning lesson. In terms of Kahoot environment, it was found that using this application through mobile is easy for students, its design is simple and useful, Kahoot-created activities can easily be shared, and the application can easily be used on any platform. The findings of the study have implications for instructors, policymakers and curriculum developers.

Keywords: Application, environment, Kahoot, learning tool.

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Authors: Mahmud Gungor, Ali Aydin, Erdal Akyol, Suat Tasdelen

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The understanding of geotechnical characteristics of near-surface material and the effects of the groundwater is very important problem in such as site studies. For showing the relations between seismic data and groundwater, we selected about 25 km2 as the study area. It has been presented which is a detailed work of seismic data and groundwater depths of Gokpinar Damp area. Seismic waves velocity (Vp and Vs) are very important parameters showing the soil properties. The seismic records were used the method of the multichannel analysis of surface waves near area of Gokpinar Damp area. Sixty sites in this area have been investigated with survey lines about 60 m in length. MASW (Multichannel analysis of surface wave) method has been used to generate onedimensional shear wave velocity profile at locations. These shear wave velocities are used to estimate equivalent shear wave velocity in the study area at every 2 and 5 m intervals up to a depth of 45 m. Levels of equivalent shear wave velocity of soil are used the classified of the study area. After the results of the study, it must be considered as components of urban planning and building design of Gokpinar Damp area, Denizli and the application and use of these results should be required and enforced by municipal authorities.

Keywords: Seismic data, Gokpinar Damp, urban planning, Denizli.

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Authors: X. Wang, J. S. Kuang

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The Fixed-angle Softened Truss Model with Tension-stiffening (FASTMT) has a superior performance in predicting the shear behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) membrane elements, especially for the post-cracking behaviour. Nevertheless, massive computational work is inevitable due to the multiple transcendental equations involved in the stress-strain relationship. In this paper, an iterative root-finding technique is introduced to FASTMT for solving quickly the transcendental equations of the tension-stiffening effect of RC membrane elements. This fast FASTMT, which performs in MATLAB, uses the bisection method to calculate the tensile stress of the membranes. By adopting the simplification, the elapsed time of each loop is reduced significantly and the transcendental equations can be solved accurately. Owing to the high efficiency and good accuracy as compared with FASTMT, the fast FASTMT can be further applied in quick prediction of shear behaviour of complex large-scale RC structures.

Keywords: Bisection method, fixed-angle softened truss model with tension-stiffening, iterative root-finding technique, reinforced concrete membrane.

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Authors: Razieh Arian, Hadi Adibi-Asl

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This paper investigates an efficient combustion modeling for cycle simulation of internal combustion engine (ICE) studies. The term “efficient model” means that the models must generate desired simulation results while having fast simulation time. In other words, the efficient model is defined based on the application of the model. The objective of this study is to develop math-based models for control applications or shortly control-oriented models. This study compares different modeling approaches used to model the ICEs such as mean-value models, zero dimensional, quasi-dimensional, and multi-dimensional models for control applications. Mean-value models have been widely used for model-based control applications, but recently by developing advanced simulation tools (e.g. Maple/MapleSim) the higher order models (more complex) could be considered as control-oriented models. This paper presents the enhanced zero-dimensional cycle-by-cycle modeling and simulation of a spark ignition engine with a two-zone combustion model. The simulation results are cross-validated against the simulation results from GT-Power package and show a good agreement in terms of trends and values.

Keywords: Two-zone combustion, control-oriented model, wiebe function, internal combustion engine.

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Authors: F. Rashno Seydari, M. Nikafrooz

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This paper intends to study needs analysis of hearing-impaired students’ teachers in elementary schools all over Iran. The subjects of this study were 275 teachers who were teaching hearing-impaired students in elementary schools. The participants were selected by a quota sampling method. To collect the data, questionnaires of training needs consisting of 41 knowledge items and 31 performance items were used. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS software in the form of descriptive analyses (frequency and mean) and inferential analyses (one sample t-test, paired t-test, independent t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient). The findings of the study indicated that teachers generally have considerable needs in knowledge and performance domains. In 32 items out of the total 41 knowledge domain items and in the 27 items out of the total 31 performance domain items, the teachers had considerable needs. From the quantitative point of view, the needs of the performance domain were more than those of the knowledge domain, so they have to be considered as the first priority in training these teachers. There was no difference between the level of the needs of male and female teachers. There was a significant difference between the knowledge and performance domain needs and the teachers’ teaching experience, 0.354 and 0.322 respectively. The teachers who had been trained in working with hearing-impaired students expressed more training needs (both knowledge and performance).

Keywords: Needs analysis, hearing impaired students, hearing impaired students’ teachers, knowledge domain, performance domain.

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Authors: Gyo Woo Lee, Man Young Kim

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Emission regulations for diesel engines are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the standards without exhaust after-treatment systems. Lack of the space in many diesel vehicles, however, make it difficult to design and install stand-alone catalytic converters such as DOC, DPF, and SCR in the vehicle exhaust systems. Accordingly, those have been installed inside the muffler to save the space, and referred to the catalytic muffler. However, that has complex internal structure with perforated plate and pipe for noise and monolithic catalyst for emission reduction. For this reason, flow uniformity and pressure drop, which affect efficiency of catalyst and engine performance, respectively, should be examined when the catalytic muffler is designed. In this work, therefore, the flow uniformity and pressure drop to improve the performance of the catalytic converter and the engine have been numerically investigated by changing various design parameters such as inlet shape, porosity, and outlet shape of the muffler using the three-dimensional turbulent flow of the incompressible, non-reacting, and steady state inside the catalytic muffler. Finally, it can be found that the shape, in which the muffler has perforated pipe inside the inlet part, has higher uniformity index and lower pressure drop than others considered in this work.

Keywords: Catalytic muffler, Perforated inlet cone, Catalysts, Perforated pipe, Flow uniformity, Pressure drop.

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Authors: Shahrinaz Ismail, Roslina Abdul Latif

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Social media has led to paradigm shifts in ways people work and do business, interact and socialize, learn and obtain knowledge. So much so that social media has established itself as an important spatial extension of this nation-s historicity and challenges. Regardless of the enabling reputation and recommendation features through social networks embedded in the social media system, the overflow of broadcasted and publicized media contents turns the table around from engendering trust to doubting the trust system. When the trust is at doubt, the effects include deactivation of accounts and creation of multiple profiles, which lead to the overflow of 'ghost' contents (i.e. “the abundance of abandoned ships"). In most literature, the study of trust can be related to culture; hence the difference between Western-s “openness" and Eastern-s “blue-chip" concepts in networking and relationships. From a survey on issues and challenges among Malaysian social media users, 'authenticity' emerges as one of the main factors that causes and is caused by other factors. The other issue that has surfaced is credibility either in terms of message/content and source. Another is the quality of the knowledge that is shared. This paper explores the terrains of this critical space which in recent years has been dominated increasingly by, arguably, social networks embedded in the social media system, the overflow of broadcasted and publicized media content.

Keywords: Authenticity, credibility, knowledge quality and social media.

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Authors: Rabha W. Ibrahim

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We study a Dirichlet boundary value problem for Lane-Emden equation involving two fractional orders. Lane-Emden equation has been widely used to describe a variety of phenomena in physics and astrophysics, including aspects of stellar structure, the thermal history of a spherical cloud of gas, isothermal gas spheres,and thermionic currents. However, ordinary Lane-Emden equation does not provide the correct description of the dynamics for systems in complex media. In order to overcome this problem and describe dynamical processes in a fractalmedium, numerous generalizations of Lane-Emden equation have been proposed. One such generalization replaces the ordinary derivative by a fractional derivative in the Lane-Emden equation. This gives rise to the fractional Lane-Emden equation with a single index. Recently, a new type of Lane-Emden equation with two different fractional orders has been introduced which provides a more flexible model for fractal processes as compared with the usual one characterized by a single index. The contraction mapping principle and Krasnoselskiis fixed point theorem are applied to prove the existence of solutions of the problem in a Banach space. Ulam-Hyers stability for iterative Cauchy fractional differential equation is defined and studied.

Keywords: Fractional calculus, fractional differential equation, Lane-Emden equation, Riemann-Liouville fractional operators, Volterra integral equation.

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Authors: Umar Ubandawaki

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Political participation involves voluntary and deliberate efforts by the members of a political system to determine the kinds of political institution and individuals that will govern them and equally influence the mobilization and allocation of the available societal resources. Over the years, youths in Nigeria participate actively in political party rallies and voting to elect their leaders and representatives in governance. This paper examines categories and nature of participation in politics as well as factors that drive youths into politics in Sokoto State. A survey conducted, through focus group discussions, interviews and questionnaire, in the six sampled Local Government of Sokoto State identifies three category of political participation; namely, active, moderate and apathetic participation. The findings reveal that 63.57% of respondents are apathetic to politics in the State and unemployed youth constitutes 34.74% of the entire responses. The paper establishes that lack of attainment of need (63.22%) is one of the reasons that make youths engage into participatory activities that encourage political thuggery and manipulation of electoral outcomes. The paper recommends that youths should be engaged into positive rational participatory activities that ensure inclusiveness and promotion of good governance in Nigeria. It is hoped that this will enlighten youths and policy implementers on the constructive strategies in controlling youths’ negative participation in politics in Nigeria.

Keywords: Democracy, Governance, Inclusiveness, Participation and Politics.

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Authors: Md. Ashikur Rahman Khan, M. M. Rahman, K. Kadirgama, M.A. Maleque, Rosli A. Bakar

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Conventionally the selection of parameters depends intensely on the operator-s experience or conservative technological data provided by the EDM equipment manufacturers that assign inconsistent machining performance. The parameter settings given by the manufacturers are only relevant with common steel grades. A single parameter change influences the process in a complex way. Hence, the present research proposes artificial neural network (ANN) models for the prediction of surface roughness on first commenced Ti-15-3 alloy in electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. The proposed models use peak current, pulse on time, pulse off time and servo voltage as input parameters. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) with three hidden layer feedforward networks are applied. An assessment is carried out with the models of distinct hidden layer. Training of the models is performed with data from an extensive series of experiments utilizing copper electrode as positive polarity. The predictions based on the above developed models have been verified with another set of experiments and are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. Beside this they can be exercised as precious tools for the process planning for EDM.

Keywords: Ti-15l-3, surface roughness, copper, positive polarity, multi-layered perceptron.

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Authors: Mohd Nuri Al-Amin Endut, Wan Suhaimi Wan Abdullah, Zulqarnain Abu Bakar

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The element of justice or al-‘adl in the context of Islamic critical thinking deals with the notion of justice in a thinking process which critically rationalizes the truth in a fair and objective manner with no irrelevant interference that can jeopardize a sound judgment. This Islamic axiological element is vital in technological decision making as it addresses the issues of religious values and ethics that are primarily set to fulfill the purpose of human life on earth. The main objective of this study was to examine and analyze the perception of Muslim engineering students in Malaysian higher education institutions towards the concept of al-‘adl as an essential element of Islamic critical thinking. The study employed mixed methods approach that comprises data collection from the questionnaire survey and the interview responses. A total of 557 Muslim engineering undergraduates from six Malaysian universities participated in the study. The study generally indicated that Muslim engineering undergraduates in the higher institutions have rather good comprehension and consciousness for al-‘adl with a slight awareness on the importance of objective thinking. Nonetheless there were a few items on the concept that have implied a comparatively low perception on the rational justice in Islam as the means to grasp the ultimate truth.

Keywords: Engineering education, Islamic critical thinking, rational justice, perception, tertiary education.

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Authors: Stefan Wagenpfeil, Felix Engel, Paul McKevitt, Matthias Hemmje

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Multimedia Indexing and Retrieval is generally de-signed and implemented by employing feature graphs. These graphs typically contain a significant number of nodes and edges to reflect the level of detail in feature detection. A higher level of detail increases the effectiveness of the results but also leads to more complex graph structures. However, graph-traversal-based algorithms for similarity are quite inefficient and computation intensive, espe-cially for large data structures. To deliver fast and effective retrieval, an efficient similarity algorithm, particularly for large graphs, is mandatory. Hence, in this paper, we define a graph-projection into a 2D space (Graph Code) as well as the corresponding algorithms for indexing and retrieval. We show that calculations in this space can be performed more efficiently than graph-traversals due to a simpler processing model and a high level of parallelisation. In consequence, we prove that the effectiveness of retrieval also increases substantially, as Graph Codes facilitate more levels of detail in feature fusion. Thus, Graph Codes provide a significant increase in efficiency and effectiveness (especially for Multimedia indexing and retrieval) and can be applied to images, videos, audio, and text information.

Keywords: indexing, retrieval, multimedia, graph code, graph algorithm

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Authors: Hikmat A. M. Abd-El-Jaber, Tengku M. T. Sembok

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The information on the Web increases tremendously. A number of search engines have been developed for searching Web information and retrieving relevant documents that satisfy the inquirers needs. Search engines provide inquirers irrelevant documents among search results, since the search is text-based rather than semantic-based. Information retrieval research area has presented a number of approaches and methodologies such as profiling, feedback, query modification, human-computer interaction, etc for improving search results. Moreover, information retrieval has employed artificial intelligence techniques and strategies such as machine learning heuristics, tuning mechanisms, user and system vocabularies, logical theory, etc for capturing user's preferences and using them for guiding the search based on the semantic analysis rather than syntactic analysis. Although a valuable improvement has been recorded on search results, the survey has shown that still search engines users are not really satisfied with their search results. Using ontologies for semantic-based searching is likely the key solution. Adopting profiling approach and using ontology base characteristics, this work proposes a strategy for finding the exact meaning of the query terms in order to retrieve relevant information according to user needs. The evaluation of conducted experiments has shown the effectiveness of the suggested methodology and conclusion is presented.

Keywords: information retrieval, user profiles, semantic Web, ontology, search engine.

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Authors: Pariwat Somnuek

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This study focused on tourism logistic services in the border areas of Thailand by an analysis and comparison of the opinions of tourists, villagers, and entrepreneurs of these services. Sample representatives of this study were a total of 600 villagers and 15 entrepreneurs in the three border areas consisting of Chong Anma, Chong Sa-Ngam, and Chong Jom checkpoints. For methodology, survey questionnaires, situation analysis, TOWS matrix, and focus group discussions were used for data collection, as well as descriptive analysis and statistics such as arithmetic means and standard deviations, were employed for data analysis. The findings revealed that business potential was at the medium level and entrepreneurs were satisfied with their turnovers. However, perspectives of transportation and tourism services provided for tourists need to be immediately improved. Recommendations for the potential development included promotion of border tourism destinations and foreign investments into accommodation, restaurants, and transport, as well as the establishment of business networks between Thailand and Cambodia, along with the introduction of new tourism destinations by co-operation between entrepreneurs in both countries. These initiatives may lead to increased visitors, collaboration of security offices, and an improved image of tourism security.

Keywords: Business potential, potential development, tourism logistics, services.

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Authors: Parvinder S. Sandhu, Roma Jaswal, Sandeep Khimta, Shailendra Singh

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As the majority of faults are found in a few of its modules so there is a need to investigate the modules that are affected severely as compared to other modules and proper maintenance need to be done in time especially for the critical applications. As, Neural networks, which have been already applied in software engineering applications to build reliability growth models predict the gross change or reusability metrics. Neural networks are non-linear sophisticated modeling techniques that are able to model complex functions. Neural network techniques are used when exact nature of input and outputs is not known. A key feature is that they learn the relationship between input and output through training. In this present work, various Neural Network Based techniques are explored and comparative analysis is performed for the prediction of level of need of maintenance by predicting level severity of faults present in NASA-s public domain defect dataset. The comparison of different algorithms is made on the basis of Mean Absolute Error, Root Mean Square Error and Accuracy Values. It is concluded that Generalized Regression Networks is the best algorithm for classification of the software components into different level of severity of impact of the faults. The algorithm can be used to develop model that can be used for identifying modules that are heavily affected by the faults.

Keywords: Neural Network, Software faults, Software Metric.

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Authors: Zheng Zhang, Xin Chen, Guoqing Ding

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Electronic apex locators (EAL) has been widely used clinically for measuring root canal working length with high accuracy, which is crucial for successful endodontic treatment. In order to maintain high accuracy in different measurement environments, this study presented a system for root canal length measurement based on multifrequency impedance method. This measuring system can generate a sweep current with frequencies from 100 Hz to 1 MHz through a direct digital synthesizer. Multiple impedance ratios with different combinations of frequencies were obtained and transmitted by an analog-to-digital converter and several of them with representatives will be selected after data process. The system analyzed the functional relationship between these impedance ratios and the distance between the file and the apex with statistics by measuring plenty of teeth. The position of the apical foramen can be determined by the statistical model using these impedance ratios. The experimental results revealed that the accuracy of the system based on multifrequency impedance ratios method to determine the position of the apical foramen was higher than the dual-frequency impedance ratio method. Besides that, for more complex measurement environments, the performance of the system was more stable.

Keywords: Root canal length, apex locator, multifrequency impedance, sweep frequency.

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Authors: N. F. Hanna, A. M. Haridy

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One of the main drawbacks of the Modal Pushover Analysis (MPA) is the need to perform nonlinear time-history analysis, which complicates the analysis method and time. A simplified version of the MPA has been proposed based on the concept of the inelastic deformation ratio. Furthermore, the effect of the higher modes of vibration is considered by assuming linearly-elastic responses, which enables the use of standard elastic response spectrum analysis. In this thesis, the simplified MPA (SMPA) method is applied to determine the target global drift and the inter-story drifts of steel frame building. The effect of the higher vibration modes is considered within the framework of the SMPA. A comprehensive survey about the inelastic deformation ratio is presented. After that, a suitable expression from literature is selected for the inelastic deformation ratio and then implemented in the SMPA. The estimated seismic demands using the SMPA, such as target drift, base shear, and the inter-story drifts, are compared with the seismic responses determined by applying the standard MPA. The accuracy of the estimated seismic demands is validated by comparing with the results obtained by the nonlinear time-history analysis using real earthquake records.

Keywords: Modal analysis, pushover analysis, seismic performance, target displacement.

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Authors: Handan Ertaş

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The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between organizational trust level and organizational justice of Municipality officials. Correlational method has been used via descriptive survey model and Organizational Justice Perception Scale, Organizational Trust Inventory and Interpersonal Trust Scale have been applied to 353 participants who work in Konya Metropolitan Municipality and central district municipalities in the study. Frequency as statistical method, Independent Samples t test for binary groups, One Way-ANOVA analyses for multi-groups and Pearson Correlation analysis have been used to determine the relation in the data analysis process.It has been determined in the outcomes of the study that participants have high level of organizational trust, “Interpersonal Trust” is in the first place and there is a significant difference in the favor of male officials in terms of Trust on the Organization Itself and Interpersonal Trust. It has also been understood that officials in district municipalities have higher perception level in all dimensions, there is a significant difference in Trust on the Organization sub-dimension and work status is an important factor on organizational trust perception. Moreover, the study has shown that organizational justice implementations are important in raising trust of official on the organization, administrator and colleagues, and there is a parallel relation between Organizational Trust components and Organizational Trust dimensions.

Keywords: Konya, Organizational Justice, Organizational.

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Authors: Seyedehfatemeh Golrizgashti, Seyedali Dalil

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The goal of this paper is proposing a supply chain value dashboard in home appliance manufacturing firms to create more value for all stakeholders via balanced scorecard approach. Balanced scorecard is an effective approach that managers have used to evaluate supply chain performance in many fields but there is a lack of enough attention to all supply chain stakeholders, improving value creation and, defining correlation between value indicators and performance measuring quantitatively. In this research the key stakeholders in home appliance supply chain, value indicators with respect to create more value for stakeholders and the most important metrics to evaluate supply chain value performance based on balanced scorecard approach have been selected via literature review. The most important indicators based on expert’s judgment acquired by in survey focused on creating more value for. Structural equation modelling has been used to disclose relations between value indicators and balanced scorecard metrics. The important result of this research is identifying effective value dashboard to create more value for all stakeholders in supply chain via balanced scorecard approach and based on an empirical study covering ten home appliance manufacturing firms in Iran. Home appliance manufacturing firms can increase their stakeholder's satisfaction by using this value dashboard.

Keywords: Supply chain management, balanced scorecard, value, Structural modeling, Stakeholders.

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Authors: C. A. Alves, A. Vicente, M. Evtyugina, C. A. Pio, A. Hoffer, G. Kiss, S. Decesari, R. Hillamo, E.Swietlicki

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The concentrations of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were determined in atmospheric aerosol samples collected at a rural site in Hungary (K-puszta, summer 2008), a boreal forest (Hyytiälä,  April 2007) and a polluted rural area in Italy (San Pietro Capofiume, Po Valley, April 2008). A clear distinction between “clean" and “polluted" periods was observed. Concentrations obtained for Hyytiälä are significantly lower than those for the other two sites. Source reconciliation was performed using diagnostic parameters, such as the carbon preference index and ratios between PAH. The presence of an unresolved complex mixture of hydrocarbons, especially for the Finnish and Italian samples, is indicative of petrogenic inputs. In K-puszta, the aliphatic hydrocarbons are dominated by leaf wax n-alkanes. The long range transport of anthropogenic pollution contributed to the Finnish aerosol. Industrial activities and vehicular emissions represent major sources in San Pietro Capofiume. PAH in K-puszta consist of both pyrogenic and petrogenic compounds.

Keywords: Particulate matter, n-alkanes, PAH, BaPE, ruralsites, source reconciliation.

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Authors: Aditi Shukla, Ambarish S. Vidyarthi, Subir Samanta

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The worldwide prevalence of H3N2 influenza virus and its increasing resistance to the existing drugs necessitates for the development of an improved/better targeting anti-influenza drug. H3N2 influenza neuraminidase is one of the two membrane-bound proteins belonging to group-2 neuraminidases. It acts as key player involved in viral pathogenicity and hence, is an important target of anti-influenza drugs. Oseltamivir is one of the potent drugs targeting this neuraminidase. In the present work, we have taken subtype N2 neuraminidase as the receptor and probable analogs of oseltamivir as drug molecules to study the protein-drug interaction in anticipation of finding efficient modified candidate compound. Oseltamivir analogs were made by modifying the functional groups using Marvin Sketch software and were docked using Schrodinger-s Glide. Oseltamivir analog 10 was detected to have significant energy value (16% less compared to Oseltamivir) and could be the probable lead molecule. It infers that some of the modified compounds can interact in a novel manner with increased hydrogen bonding at the active site of neuraminidase and it might be better than the original drug. Further work can be carried out such as enzymatic inhibition studies; synthesis and crystallizing the drug-target complex to analyze the interactions biologically.

Keywords: H3N2 Influenza, Neuraminidase, Oseltamiviranalogs, structure based drug designing

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Authors: Arpan Paul, Joy Sen

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Livability is a holistic concept whose factors include many complex characteristics and levels of interrelationships among them. It has been considered as people’s need for public amenities and is recognized as a major element to create social welfare. The concept and principles of livability are essential for recognizing the significance of community well-being. The attributes and dimensions of livability are also important aspects to measure the overall quality of environment. Livability potential is mainly considered as the capacity to develop into the overall well-being of an urban area in future. The intent of the present study is to identify the prime factors to evaluate livability potential within a metropolis. For ground level case study, the paper has selected Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) as it has wide physical, social, and economic variations within it. The initial part of the study deals with detailed literature review on livability and its significance of evaluating its potential within a metropolis. The next segment is dedicated for identifying the primary factors which would evaluate livability potential within a metropolis. In pursuit of identifying primary factors, which have a direct impact on urban livability, this study delineates the metropolitan area into various clusters, having their distinct livability potential. As a final outcome of the study, variations of livability potential of those selected clusters are highlighted to explain the complexity of the metropolitan development.

Keywords: Livability potential, metropolis, Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA), well-being.

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Authors: Khalid Ahmed Elrabie Abdelrasoul

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The present study was carried out on Sahiwal cattle bulls maintained at the Artificial Breeding Complex, NDRI, Karnal, Hayana, India, to assess the effect of cooling using mist cooling and fanning on Sahiwal bulls in the dry hot summer season. Fourteen Sahiwal bulls were divided into two groups of seven each. Sexual behavior and semen quality traits considered were: Reaction time (RT), Dismounting time (DMT), Total time taken in mounts (TTTM), Flehmen response (FR), Erection Score (ES), Protrusion Score (PS), Intensity of thrust (ITS), Temperament Score (TS), Libido Score (LS), Semen volume, Physical appearance, Mass activity, Initial progressive motility, Non-eosinophilic spermatozoa count (NESC) and post thaw motility percent. Data were analyzed by least squares technique. Group-1 was the control, whereas group-2 (treatment group) bulls were exposed to mist cooling and fanning (thrice a day 15 min each) in the dry hot summer season. Group-2 showed significantly (p < 0.01) higher value in DMT (sec), ES, PS, ITS, LS, semen volume (ml), semen color density, mass activity, initial motility, progressive motility and live sperm.

Keywords: Mist cooling, Sahiwal bulls, semen quality, sexual behavior.

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Authors: Pavel Adámek

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This study examines perception of environmental approach in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – the process by which firms integrate environmental concern into business. Based on a review of the literature, the paper synthesizes focus on environmental issues with the reflection in a case study in the Czech Republic. Two themes of corporate environmentalism are discussed – corporate environmental orientation and corporate stances toward environmental concerns. It provides theoretical material on greening organizational culture that is helpful in understanding the response of contemporary business to environmental problems. We integrate theoretical predictions with empirical findings confronted with reality. Scales to measure these themes are tested in a survey of managers in 229 Czech firms. We used the process of in-depth questioning. The research question was derived and answered in the context of the corresponding literature and conducted research. A case study showed us that environmental approach is variety different (depending on the size of the firm) in SMEs sector. The results of the empirical mapping demonstrate Czech company’s approach to environment and define the problem areas and pinpoint the main limitation in the expansion of environmental aspects. We contribute to the debate for recognition of the particular role of environmental issues in business reality.

Keywords: Corporate environmentalism, Czech Republic, empirical mapping, environmental performance.

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Authors: Cheng Fang, Lingwei Quan, Cunyue Lu

Abstract:

Human pose estimation and tracking are to accurately identify and locate the positions of human joints in the video. It is a computer vision task which is of great significance for human motion recognition, behavior understanding and scene analysis. There has been remarkable progress on human pose estimation in recent years. However, more researches are needed for human pose tracking especially for online tracking. In this paper, a framework, called PoseSRPN, is proposed for online single-person pose estimation and tracking. We use Siamese network attaching a pose estimation branch to incorporate Single-person Pose Tracking (SPT) and Visual Object Tracking (VOT) into one framework. The pose estimation branch has a simple network structure that replaces the complex upsampling and convolution network structure with deconvolution. By augmenting the loss of fully convolutional Siamese network with the pose estimation task, pose estimation and tracking can be trained in one stage. Once trained, PoseSRPN only relies on a single bounding box initialization and producing human joints location. The experimental results show that while maintaining the good accuracy of pose estimation on COCO and PoseTrack datasets, the proposed method achieves a speed of 59 frame/s, which is superior to other pose tracking frameworks.

Keywords: Computer vision, Siamese network, pose estimation, pose tracking.

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Authors: S. Abed, S. O’Neill

Abstract:

This research explored ward nurses’ views about the characteristics of effective nurse leaders in the context of Iraq as a developing country, where the delivery of health care continues to face disruption and change. It is well established that the provision of modern health care requires effective nurse leaders, but in countries such as Iraq the lack of effective nurse leaders is noted as a major challenge. In a descriptive quantitative study, a survey questionnaire was administered to 210 ward nurses working in two public hospitals in a major city in the north of Iraq. The participating nurses were of the opinion that the effectiveness of their nurse leaders was evident in their ability to demonstrate: good clinical knowledge, effective communication and managerial skills. They also viewed their leaders as needing to hold high-level nursing qualifications, though this was not necessarily the case in practice. Additionally, they viewed nurse leaders’ personal qualities as important, which included politeness, ethical behaviour, and trustworthiness. When considered against the issues raised in interviews with a smaller group (20) of senior nurse leaders, representative of the various occupational levels, implications identify the need for professional development that focuses on how the underpinning competencies relate to leadership and how transformational leadership is evidenced in practice.

Keywords: Health care, nurse education, nurse leadership, nursing in Iraq, transformational leadership.

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Authors: Göksel Şimşek

Abstract:

Celebrities are admired, appreciated and imitated all over the world. As a natural result of this, today many brands choose to work with celebrities for their advertisements. It can be said that the more the brands include celebrities in their marketing communication strategies, the tougher the competition in this field becomes and they allocate a large portion of their marketing budget to this. Brands invest in celebrities who will represent them in order to build the image they want to create.

This study aimed to bring under spotlight the perceptions of Turkish customers regarding the use of celebrities in advertisements and marketing communication and try to understand their possible effects on subsequent purchasing decisions. In addition, consumers’ reactions and perceptions were investigated in the context of the product-celebrity match, to what extent the celebrity conforms to the concept of the advertisement and the celebrity-target audience match.

In  order  to  achieve  this  purpose, a  quantitative research  was conducted  as a case  study concerning  Mavi Jeans  (textile company). Information was obtained through survey. The results from this case study are supported by relevant theories concerning the main subject. The most valuable result would be that instead of creating an advertisement around a celebrity in demand at the time, using a celebrity that fits the concept of the advertisement and feeds the concept rather than replaces it, that is celebrity endorsement, will lead to more striking and positive results.

Keywords: Celebrity endorsement, product-celebrity match, advertising.

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Authors: Taner Ersoz, Filiz Ersoz

Abstract:

This study was designed enable application of multivariate technique in the interpretation of categorical data for measuring health care services satisfaction in Turkey. The data was collected from a total of 17726 respondents. The establishment of the sample group and collection of the data were carried out by a joint team from The Ministry of Health and Turkish Statistical Institute (Turk Stat) of Turkey. The multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used on the data of 2882 respondents who answered the questionnaire in full. The multiple correspondence analysis indicated that, in the evaluation of health services females, public employees, younger and more highly educated individuals were more concerned and complainant than males, private sector employees, older and less educated individuals. Overall 53 % of the respondents were pleased with the improvements in health care services in the past three years. This study demonstrates the public consciousness in health services and health care satisfaction in Turkey. It was found that most the respondents were pleased with the improvements in health care services over the past three years. Awareness of health service quality increases with education levels. Older individuals and males would appear to have lower expectancies in health services.

Keywords: Multiple correspondence analysis, optimal scaling, multivariate categorical data, health care services, health satisfaction survey, statistical visualizing, Turkey.

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Authors: A. Bandyopadhyay

Abstract:

Vedic philosophy is one of the oldest existing philosophies of the world. Started around 6500 BC, in Western Indian subcontinent, the Indus valley Civilizations developed a theology which, gradually developed into a well-established philosophy of beliefs, popularly known as ‘Hindu religion’. In Vedic theology, the abstract concept of God was formulated mostly by close observation of the dynamicity and the recurrence of natural and universal phenomena. Through the ages, the philosophy of this theology went through various discursions, debates, and questionings and the abstract concept of God was, in time, formalized into more representational forms by the means of various signs and symbols. Often, these symbols were used in more subtle ways in the construction of “sacred” sculptures and structures. Apparently, two different philosophies were developed from the Vedic philosophy and these two philosophies are mostly seen in the northern part and southern part of the Indian subcontinent. This paper tries to summarize the complex philosophical treaties of Hinduism of northern and southern India and seeks to understand the meanings of the various signs and symbolisms that were incorporated in the architecture of Hindu temples, including the names given to various parts of the temples. The Hindu temples are not only places of worship or ‘houses of Gods’ like the Greek and Roman temples but are also structures that symbolize the dynamicity and also spiritual upliftment of human beings.

Keywords: Hindu, philosophy, temple, Vedic.

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