Search results for: Influences

Authors: R. Boondao, A. J. Hurst, J. I. Sheard

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In the globalized e-learning environment, students coming from different cultures and countries have different characteristics and require different support designed for their approaches to study and learning styles. This paper explores the ways in which cultural background influences students- approaches to study and learning styles. Participants in the study consisted of 131 eastern students and 54 western students from an Australian university. The students were tested using the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) for assessing their approaches to study and the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire (ILS) for assessing their learning styles. The results of the study led to a set of principles being proposed to guide personalization of e-learning system design on the basis of cultural differences.

Keywords: Approaches to study, Cultural influences, Learningstyles, Personalization, e-learning system.

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Authors: M. Tang, S. M. Wen, D. W. Liu

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This paper presents the influences on the entrainment of serpentines by grinding and reagents during copper–nickel sulfide flotation. The previous bench flotation tests were performed to extract the metallic values from the ore in Yunnan Mine, China and the relatively satisfied results with recoveries of 86.92% Cu, 54.92% Ni, and 74.73% Pt+Pd in the concentrate were harvested at their grades of 4.02%, 3.24% and 76.61 g/t, respectively. However, the content of MgO in the concentrate was still more than 19%. Micro-flotation tests were conducted with the objective of figuring out the influences on the entrainment of serpentines into the concentrate by particle size, flocculants or depressants and collectors, as well as visual observations in suspension by OLYMPUS camera. All the tests results pointed to the presences of both “entrapped-in” serpentines and its coating on the hydrophobic flocs resulted from strong collectors (combination of butyl xanthate, butyl ammonium dithophosphate, even after adding carboxymethyl cellulose as effective depressant. And fine grinding may escalate the entrainment of serpentines in the concentrate.

Keywords: Serpentine, copper and nickel sulfides, flotation, entrainment.

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Authors: Norbert Burger, Thorsten Staake

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What influences microsystems (MEMS) and nanosystems (NEMS) innovation teams apart from technology complexity? Based on in-depth interviews with innovators, this research explores the key influences on innovation teams in the early phases of MEMS/NEMS. Projects are rare and may last from 5 to 10 years or more from idea to concept. As fundamental technology development in MEMS/NEMS is highly complex and interdisciplinary by involving expertise from different basic and engineering disciplines, R&D is rather a 'testing of ideas' with many uncertainties than a clearly structured process. The purpose of this study is to explore the innovation teams- environment and give specific insights for future management practices. The findings are grouped into three major areas: people, know-how and experience, and market. The results highlight the importance and differences of innovation teams- composition, transdisciplinary knowledge, project evaluation and management compared to the counterparts from new product development teams.

Keywords: Innovation teams, early phases, Microsystems, Nanosystems, technology developments.

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Authors: Lin. Yan, Wenyu. Yang, Hongping. Jin, Zhiguang Wang

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This paper presents a experiment to estimate the influences of cutting conditions in microstructure changes of machining austenitic 304 stainless steel, especially for wear insert. The wear insert were prefabricated with a width of 0.5 mm. And the forces, temperature distribution, RS, and microstructure changes were measured by force dynamometer, infrared thermal camera, X-ray diffraction, XRD, SEM, respectively. The results told that the different combinations of machining condition have a significant influence on machined surface microstructure changes. In addition to that, the ANOVA and AOMwere used to tell the different influences of cutting speed, feed rate, and wear insert.

Keywords: Microstructure Changes, Wear width, Stainless steel

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Authors: H. Maalem, F. Marir

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This paper presents the cepstral and trispectral analysis of a speech signal produced by normal men, men with defective audition (deaf, deep deaf) and others affected by tracheotomy, the trispectral analysis based on parametric methods (Autoregressive AR) using the fourth order cumulant. These analyses are used to detect and compare the pitches and the formants of corresponding voiced sounds (vowel \a\, \i\ and \u\). The first results appear promising, since- it seems after several experimentsthere is no deformation of the spectrum as one could have supposed it at the beginning, however these pathologies influenced the two characteristics: The defective audition influences to the formants contrary to the tracheotomy, which influences the fundamental frequency (pitch).

Keywords: Cepstrum, cumulant, defective audition, tracheotomisy, trispectrum.

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Authors: J. Cecrdle

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This paper deals with the whirl flutter of the turboprop aircraft structures. It is focused on the influence of the blade lift span-wise distribution on the whirl flutter stability. Firstly it gives the overall theoretical background of the whirl flutter phenomenon. After that the propeller blade forces solution and the options of the blade lift modeling are described. The problem is demonstrated on the example of a twin turboprop aircraft structure. There are evaluated the influences with respect to the propeller aerodynamic derivatives and finally the influences to the whirl flutter speed and the whirl flutter margin respectively.

Keywords: Aeroelasticity, flutter, propeller blade force, whirl flutter.

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Authors: Mi Sook Lee

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The number of the companies accepting RFID in Korea has been increased continuously due to the domestic development of information technology. The acceptance of RFID by companies in Korea enabled them to do business with many global enterprises in a much more efficient and effective way. According to a survey[33, p76], many companies in Korea have used RFID for inventory or distribution manages. But, the use of RFID in the companies in Korea is in the early stages and its potential value hasn-t fully been realized yet. At this time, it would be very important to investigate the factors that affect RFID acceptance. For this study, many previous studies were referenced and some RFID experts were interviewed. Through the pilot test, four factors were selected - Security Trust, Employee Knowledge, Partner Influence, Service Provider Trust - affecting RFID acceptance and an extended technology acceptance model(e-TAM) was presented with those factors. The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected from employees in companies or public enterprises. In order to analyze some relationships between exogenous variables and four variables in TAM, structural equation modeling(SEM) was developed and SPSS12.0 and AMOS 7.0 were used for analyses. The results are summarized as follows: 1) security trust perceived by employees positively influences on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use; 2) employee-s knowledge on RFID positively influences on only perceived ease of use; 3) a partner-s influence for RFID acceptance positively influences on only perceived usefulness; 4) service provider trust very positively influences on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use 5) the relationships between TAM variables are the same as the previous studies.

Keywords: RFID, TAM, Security Trust, Employee Knowledge, Partner Influence, Service Provider Trust.

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Authors: S. H. Alwan, J. Jasni, M. Z. A. Ab Kadir, N. Aziz

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The aim of this paper is to present a parametric study to determine the major factors that influence the calculations of current rating for both air and underground cables. The current carrying capability of the power cables rely largely on the installation conditions and material properties. In this work, the influences on ampacity of conductor size, soil thermal resistivity and ambient soil temperature for underground installations are shown. The influences on the current-carrying capacity of solar heating (time of day effects and intensity of solar radiation), ambient air temperature and cable size for cables air are also presented. IEC and IEEE standards are taken as reference.

Keywords: Cable ampacity, underground cable, IEC standard, air cables.

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Authors: A. Briseno, A, Zorrilla

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Firms are increasingly responding to social and environmental claims from society. Practices oriented to attend issues such as poverty, work equality, or renewable energy, are being implemented more frequently by firms to address impacts on sustainability. However, questions remain on how the responses of firms vary across industries and regions between the social and the economic objectives. Using concepts from organizational theory and social network theory, this paper aims to create a theoretical framework that explains the internal and external influences that make a firm establish its objective. The framework explains why firms might have a different objective orientation in terms of its economic and social prioritization.

Keywords: Organizational identity, social network analysis, firm objective, value maximization, social responsibility.

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Authors: Silvio R. R. Sanches, Bianca C. Barbosa, Beatriz R. Brum, Cléber G.Corrêa

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In order to evaluate the quality of a segmentation algorithm, the researchers use subjective or objective metrics. Although subjective metrics are more accurate than objective ones, objective metrics do not require user feedback to test an algorithm. Objective metrics require subjective experiments only during their development. Subjective experiments typically display to users some videos (generated from frames with segmentation errors) that simulate the environment of an application domain. This user feedback is crucial information for metric definition. In the subjective experiments applied to develop some state-of-the-art metrics used to test segmentation algorithms, the videos displayed during the experiments did not contain audio. Audio is an essential component in applications such as videoconference and augmented reality. If the audio influences the user’s perception, using only videos without audio in subjective experiments can compromise the efficiency of an objective metric generated using data from these experiments. This work aims to identify if the audio influences the user’s perception of segmentation quality in background substitution applications with audio. The proposed approach used a subjective method based on formal video quality assessment methods. The results showed that audio influences the quality of segmentation perceived by a user.

Keywords: Background substitution, influence of audio, segmentation evaluation, segmentation quality.

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Authors: M.A. Kamely, S.M. Kamil, C.W. Chong

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A mathematical model of the surface roughness has been developed by using response surface methodology (RSM) in grinding of AISI D2 cold work tool steels. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to check the validity of the model. Low and high value for work speed and feed rate are decided from design of experiment. The influences of all machining parameters on surface roughness have been analyzed based on the developed mathematical model. The developed prediction equation shows that both the feed rate and work speed are the most important factor that influences the surface roughness. The surface roughness was found to be the lowers with the used of low feed rate and low work speed. Accuracy of the best model was proved with the testing data.

Keywords: Mathematical Modeling, Response surfacemethodology, Surface roughness, Cylindrical Grinding.

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Authors: Kutub Uddin Chisty, Md. Ashraful Islam, Shahjalal Misuk

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Chittagong is the commercial capital of Bangladesh. Here Agrabad is one of the most commercial activity centers of Chittagong. Due to many light industry and commercial land use, Agrabad to CEPZ road at Agrabad is the only major road of Chittagong port city which encompasses a huge number of vehicles every day. It has many junctions which distribute traffic flow in different roads. In these junctions vehicles gather at some conflict point to create traffic jam and make the performance of the road downward. This study is parallel focused on the existing level of service with traffic volume, capacity, and speed by traffic survey. After all of these analyses the performance of the road is determined with finding the factors that influences the performance.

Keywords: Level of service, Traffic volume, Speed, Influences factors.

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Authors: V. C. Shruti, P. F. Rodríguez-Espinosa, D. C. Escobedo-Urías, Estefanía Martinez Tavera, M. P. Jonathan

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Atoyac River, a major south-central river flowing through the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala in Mexico is significantly impacted by the natural volcanic inputs in addition with wastewater discharges from urban, agriculture and industrial zones. In the present study, core samples were collected from R. Atoyac and analyzed for sediment granularity, major (Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, K, P and S) and trace elemental concentrations (Ba, Cr, Cd, Mn, Pb, Sr, V, Zn, Zr). The textural studies reveal that the sediments are mostly sand sized particles exceeding 99% and with very few to no presence of mud fractions. It is observed that most of the metals like (avg: all values in μg g^-1) Ca (35,528), Mg (10,789), K (7453), S (1394), Ba (203), Cr (30), Cd (4), Pb (11), Sr (435), Zn (76) and Zr (88) are enriched throughout the sediments mainly sourced from volcanic inputs, source rock composition of Atoyac River basin and industrial influences from the Puebla city region. Contamination indices, such as anthropogenic factor (AF), enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (I_geo), were used to investigate the level of contamination and toxicity as well as quantitatively assess the influences of human activities on metal concentrations. The AF values (>1) for Ba, Ca, Mg, Na, K, P and S suggested volcanic inputs from the study region, where as Cd and Zn are attributed to the impacts of industrial inputs in this zone. The EF and I_geo values revealed an extreme enrichment of S and Cd. The ecological risks were evaluated using potential ecological risk index (RI) and the results indicate that the metals Cd and V pose a major hazard for the biological community.

Keywords: Atoyac River, contamination indices, metal concentrations, Mexico, textural studies.

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Authors: Bouchmel Mliki, Chaouki Ali, Mohamed Ammar Abbassi

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In this numerical study, natural convection of Cu–water nanofluid in a cavity submitted to different heating modes on its vertical walls is analyzed. Maxwell-Garnetts (MG) and Brinkman models have been utilized for calculating the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nanofluid, respectively. Influences of Rayleigh number (Ra = 10³−10⁶), nanoparticle volume concentration (f = 0-0.04) and Hartmann number (Ha = 0-90) on the flow and heat transfer characteristics have been examined. The results indicate that the Hartmann number influences the heat transfer at Ra = 10⁶ more than other Raleigh numbers, as the least effect is observed at Ra = 10³. Moreover, the results show that the solid volume fraction has a significant influence on heat transfer, depending on the value of Hartmann, heat generation or absorption coefficient and Rayleigh numbers.

Keywords: Heat transfer, linearly/sinusoidally heated, Lattice Boltzmann Method, natural convection, nanofluid.

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Authors: A.Seif, H.Aghaie, K.Majlesi

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A computational study at the level density functional theory (DFT) was carried out to investigate the influences of Si and C-doping on the 14N and 27Al quadrupole coupling constant in the (10, 0) zigzag single ? walled Aluminum-Nitride nanotube (AlNNT). To this aim, a 1.16nm, length of AlNNT consisting of 40 Al atoms and 40 N atoms were selected where the end atoms are capped by hydrogen atom. To follow the purpose, three Si atoms and three C atoms were doped instead of three Al atoms and three N atoms as a central ring in the surface of the Si and C-doped AlNNT. At first both of systems optimized at the level of BLYP method and 6-31G (d) basis set and after that, the NQR parameters were calculated at the level BLYP method and 6-311+G** basis set in two optimized forms. The calculate CQ values for both optimized AlNNT systems, raw and Si and C-doped, reveal different electronic environments in the mentioned systems. It was also demonstrated that the end nuclei have the largest CQ values in both considered AlNNT systems. All the calculations were carried out using Gaussian 98 package of program.

Keywords: DFT, Quadrupole Coupling Constant, Si and CDoping, Single-Walled AlN nanotubes.

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Authors: Aurélie Mabrouk, Vincent Lagneau, Caroline De Dieuleveult, Martin Bachet, Hélène Schneider, Christophe Coquelet

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Resins are used in nuclear power plants for water ultrapurification. Two approaches are considered in this work: column experiments and simulations. A software called OPTIPUR was developed, tested and used. The approach simulates the onedimensional reactive transport in porous medium with convectivedispersive transport between particles and diffusive transport within the boundary layer around the particles. The transfer limitation in the boundary layer is characterized by the mass transfer coefficient (MTC). The influences on MTC were measured experimentally. The variation of the inlet concentration does not influence the MTC; on the contrary of the Darcy velocity which influences. This is consistent with results obtained using the correlation of Dwivedi&Upadhyay. With the MTC, knowing the number of exchange site and the relative affinity, OPTIPUR can simulate the column outlet concentration versus time. Then, the duration of use of resins can be predicted in conditions of a binary exchange.

Keywords: ion exchange resin, mass transfer coefficient, modeling, OPTIPUR

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Authors: Ubaidillah Zuhdi, Shunsuke Mori, Kazuhisa Kamegai

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The purpose of this study is to forecast the influences of information and communication technology (ICT) on the structural changes of Japanese economies. In this study, input-output (IO) and statistical approaches are used as analysis instruments. More specifically, this study employs Leontief IO coefficients and constrained multivariate regression (CMR) model in order to achieve the purpose. The periods of initial and forecast in this study are 2005 and 2015, respectively. In this study, ICT is represented by ICT capital stocks. This study conducts two levels of analysis, namely macro and micro. The results of macro level analysis show that the dynamics of Japanese economies on the forecast period, relative to the initial period, are not so high. We focus on (1) commerce, (2) business services and office supplies, and (3) personal services sectors when conducting the analysis of the micro level. Further, we analyze its specific IO coefficients when doing this analysis. The results of the analysis explain that ICT gives a strong influence on the changes of these coefficients from initial to forecast periods.

Keywords: Forecast, ICT, Structural changes, Japanese economies.

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Authors: Geoff D. Skinner

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Australia, while being a large and eager consumer of innovative and cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), continues to struggle to remain a leader in Technological Innovation. This paper has two main contributions to address certain aspects of this complex issue. The first being the current findings of an ongoing research project on Information and Innovation Management in the Australian Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. The major issues being considered by the project include: investigation of the possible inherent entrepreneurial nature of ICT; how to foster ICT innovation; and examination of the inherent difficulties currently found within the ICT industry of Australia in regards to supporting the development of innovative and creative ideas. The second major contribution is details of the I.-C.A.N. (Innovation by Collaborative Anonymous Networking) software application information management tool created and evolving in our research group. I-CAN, besides having a positive reinforcement acronym, is aimed at facilitating productive collaborative innovation in an Australian workplace. Such a work environment is frequently subjected to cultural influences such as the 'tall poppy syndrome' and 'negative' or 'unconstructive' peer-pressure. There influences are frequently seen as inhibitors to employee participation, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Keywords: Innovation Management, Knowledge Management, Technology Incubation.

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Authors: K. Buyana, S. Lwasa, L. Schiebinger

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Although urbanization in Africa has been characterized by fragile socio-economic successes, the sustainability of city infrastructure is now central to planning processes as a pathway to closing the deficit in terms of coverage and access. This paper builds on survey and interview data from Kampala city, to demonstrate how the principle gender responsiveness can inform improvements in urban infrastructure and service delivery. We discovered that women prefer infrastructure that combines living and working spaces for reduced labour and travel burdens between homes, markets, schools, and other urban spaces. Men’s conception of infrastructure needs on the other hand, mirrored public security and connectivity concerns along city streets and work places. However, the urban planning approach at city-level is guided by mainstream engineering and architectural designs that do not necessarily reflect the social context within which urban infrastructure influences gender roles and the attendant mobility needs. To address the challenge across cities of similar context, the paper concludes with a set of analytic steps on how the gendered influences on infrastructure-use can be considered in urban planning cycles.

Keywords: African cities, gender responsiveness, city infrastructure, urban planning.

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Authors: Bundit Pungnirund

Abstract:

The objective of this research was to study the influence of marketing mix on customers purchasing behavior. A total of 397 respondents were collected from customers who were the patronages of the Chatuchak Plaza market. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents were male with the age between 25-34 years old, hold undergraduate degree, married and stay together. The average income of respondents was between 10,001-20,000 baht. In terms of occupation, the majority worked for private companies. The research analysis disclosed that there were three variables of marketing mix which included price (X2), place (X3), and product (X1) which had an influence on the frequency of customer purchasing. These three variables can predict a purchase about 30 percent of the time by using the equation; Y1 = 6.851 + .921(X2) + .949(X3) + .591(X1). It also found that in terms of marketing mixed, there were two variables had an influence on the amount of customer purchasing which were physical characteristic (X6), and the process (X7). These two variables are 17 percent predictive of a purchasing by using the equation: Y2 = 2276.88 + 2980.97(X6) + 2188.09(X7).

Keywords: Influences, Marketing Mixed, Purchasing Behavior.

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Authors: Fatimah A. Alshaikh

Abstract:

This paper is concerned with propagation of thermoelastic longitudinal vibrations of an infinite circular cylinder, in the context of the linear theory of generalized thermoelasticity with two relaxation time parameters (Green and Lindsay theory). Three displacement potential functions are introduced to uncouple the equations of motion. The frequency equation, by using the traction free boundary conditions, is given in the form of a determinant involving Bessel functions. The roots of the frequency equation give the value of the characteristic circular frequency as function of the wave number. These roots, which correspond to various modes, are numerically computed and presented graphically for different values of the thermal relaxation times. It is found that the influences of the thermal relaxation times on the amplitudes of the elastic and thermal waves are remarkable. Also, it is shown in this study that the propagation of thermoelastic longitudinal vibrations based on the generalized thermoelasticity can differ significantly compared with the results under the classical formulation. A comparison of the results for the case with no thermal effects shows well agreement with some of the corresponding earlier results.

Keywords: Wave propagation, longitudinal vibrations, circular cylinder, generalized thermoelasticity, Thermal relaxation times.

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Authors: T. Yamaguchi, M. Watanabe, M. Sasajima, C. Yuan, S. Maruyama, T. B. Ibrahim, H. Tomita

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This paper deals with nonlinear vibration analysis using finite element method for frame structures consisting of elastic and viscoelastic damping layers supported by multiple nonlinear concentrated springs with hysteresis damping. The frame is supported by four nonlinear concentrated springs near the four corners. The restoring forces of the springs have cubic non-linearity and linear component of the nonlinear springs has complex quantity to represent linear hysteresis damping. The damping layer of the frame structures has complex modulus of elasticity. Further, the discretized equations in physical coordinate are transformed into the nonlinear ordinary coupled differential equations using normal coordinate corresponding to linear natural modes. Comparing shares of strain energy of the elastic frame, the damping layer and the springs, we evaluate the influences of the damping couplings on the linear and nonlinear impact responses. We also investigate influences of damping changed by stiffness of the elastic frame on the nonlinear coupling in the damped impact responses.

Keywords: Dynamic response, Nonlinear impact response, Finite Element analysis, Numerical analysis.

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Authors: C. C. Liang

Abstract:

MSN used to be the most popular application for communicating among social networks, but Facebook chat is now the most popular. Facebook and MSN have similar characteristics, including usefulness, ease-of-use, and a similar function, which is the exchanging of information with friends. Facebook outperforms MSN in both of these areas. However, the adoption of Facebook and abandonment of MSN have occurred for other reasons. Functions can be improved, but users’ willingness to use does not just depend on functionality. Flow status has been established to be crucial to users’ adoption of cyber applications and to affects users’ adoption of software applications. If users experience flow in using software application, they will enjoy using it frequently, and even change their preferred application from an old to this new one. However, no investigation has examined choice behavior related to switching from Facebook to MSN based on a consideration of flow experiences and functions. This investigation discusses the flow experiences and functions of social-networking applications. Flow experience is found to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use influences information ex-change with friends, and perceived usefulness; information exchange influences perceived usefulness, but information exchange has no effect on flow experience.

Keywords: Consumer behavior, social media, technology acceptance model.

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Authors: Hsiu-Hua Cheng

Abstract:

Recently, the competition between websites becomes intense. How to make users “adopt” their websites is an issue of urgent importance for online communities companies. Social procedures (such as social influence) can possibly explain how and why users’ technologies usage behaviors affect other people to use the technologies. This study proposes two types of social influences on the initial usage of Facebook Check In-friends and group members. Besides, this study combines social influences theory and social network theory to explore the factors influencing initial usage of Facebook Check In. This study indicates that Facebook friends’ previous usage of Facebook Check In and Facebook group members’ previous usage of Facebook Check In will positively influence focal actors’ Facebook Check In adoption intention, and network centrality will moderate the relationships among Facebook friends’ previous usage of Facebook Check In, Facebook group members’ previous usage of Facebook Check In and focal actors’ Facebook Check In adoption intention. The article concludes with contributions to academic research and practice.

Keywords: Social Influence, Adoption Intention, Facebook Check In, Previous Usage behavior.

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Authors: M. Mikušová, P. Horváthová

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The paper structures research approaches to the crisis and its management. It focuses on approaches – psychological, sociological, economic, ethical and technological. Furthermore, it describes the basic features of models chosen according to those approaches. By their comparison it shows how the crisis influences organizations and individuals, and their mutual interaction.

Keywords: approaches, crisis, model.

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Authors: JeongJu Kim, Heeyoon Chung, DongHo Rhee, HyungHee Cho

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There is a gap at combustor-turbine interface where leakage flow comes out to prevent hot gas ingestion into the gas turbine nozzle platform. The leakage flow protects the nozzle endwall surface from the hot gas coming from combustor exit. For controlling flow’s stream, the gap’s geometry is transformed by changing fillet radius size. During the operation, step configuration is occurred that was unintended between combustor-turbine platform interface caused by thermal expansion or mismatched assembly. In this study, CFD simulations were performed to investigate the effect of the fillet and step on heat transfer and film cooling effectiveness on the nozzle platform. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-stokes equation was solved with turbulence model, SST k-omega. With the fillet configuration, predicted film cooling effectiveness results indicated that fillet radius size influences to enhance film cooling effectiveness. Predicted film cooling effectiveness results at forward facing step configuration indicated that step height influences to enhance film cooling effectiveness. We suggested that designer change a combustor-turbine interface configuration which was varied by fillet radius size near endwall gap when there was a step at combustor-turbine interface. Gap shape was modified by increasing fillet radius size near nozzle endwall. Also, fillet radius and step height were interacted with the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer on endwall surface.

Keywords: Gas turbine, film cooling effectiveness, endwall, fillet.

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Authors: Veronika Gruberová

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The strengthening of competitive advantage combined with the transformation of business strategy is necessary for the company to succeed in the time of market changes. And in this sense the innovation activities of the firm are exactly significanting. Virtual firms are a specific form of enterprise in which we can't suppose all regularities obtaining in other forms. The aim of the paper is to evaluate factors influencing the innovation activity of virtual firm with the determination of their importance and influences on the basis of selected metrics.

Keywords: Innovation, virtual firm, factor

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Authors: Chengxuan Geng, Chenxi Liu

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this article conducts a research about the relationship between cash dividend policy and enterprise value based on the data coming from the A-share listed companies over period 2005-2009. In conclusion, the enterprise value has a negative correlation with the incremental and the degressive cash dividend per share, and has a positive correlation with the stable cash dividend per share.

Keywords: Cash dividend policy, enterprise value, stability.

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Authors: Bolanle Deborah Motilewa, E. K. Rowland Worlu, Gbenga Mayowa Agboola, Ayodele Maxwell Olokundun

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Several studies have proposed a one-size fit all approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices, such that CSR as it applies to developed countries is adapted to developing countries, ignoring the differing institutional environments (such as the regulative, economic, social and political environments), which affects the profitability and practices of businesses operating in them. CSR as it applies to filling institutional gaps in developing countries, was categorized into four themes: environmental protection, product and service innovation, social innovation and local cluster development. Based on the four themes, the study employed a qualitative research approach through the use of interviews and review of available publications to study the influence of institutional environments on CSR practices engaged in by three renewable energy firms operating in Nigeria. Over the course of three 60-minutes sessions with the top management and selected workers of the firms, four propositions were made: regulatory environment influences environmental protection practice of Nigerian renewable firms, economic environment influences product and service innovation practice of Nigerian renewable energy firms, the social environment impacts on social innovation in Nigerian renewable energy firms, and political environment affects local cluster development practice of Nigerian renewable energy firms. It was also observed that beyond institutional environments, the international exposure of an organization’s managers reflected in their approach to CSR. This finding on the influence of international exposure on CSR practices creates an area for further study. Insights from this paper are set to help policy makers in developing countries, CSR managers, and future researchers.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, institutional environment, renewable energy firms, developing countries, international exposure.

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Authors: Sriranjani Srinivasan

Abstract:

To appreciate Indian art and architecture by studying it in India alone will only lead to partial understanding of the whole story and the variety of the statement has been amply proved by subsequent decades of patient research. The results of the work of the Archaeological Survey of India forms only one half of the picture, the other half emerges with the studies of the archaeology and art of the Far East that progressed almost simultaneously under the Archaeological Survey of the Dutch East Indies, the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), or French School of Asian Studies, and allied institutions. The conclusions arrived at have only rendered the assertion that India produced her ultimate master pieces only through foreign influences and in foreign lands (the South-Eastern peninsular and archipelagic regions) almost axiomatic. Angkor in Cambodia and Borobudur in Java, undoubtedly the two greatest architectural marvels of Indian genius, for in content and spirit these (and other monuments of varying magnitudes), are purely Indian, would well illustrate the statement mentioned earlier. Stimulated research followed the discoveries and among the many studies and publications of such pioneers like Coedes, Parmentier, Coomaraswamy and many others in Dutch, French and English made growing contributions to the subject. This paper will discuss in detail the impact of India on the architecture of South East Asia by detailed comparison of architectural styles, elements, and construction materials of a few specific architectural master pieces, in both India and South East Asian countries. It will also analyze the reasoning behind the influence of India on South East Asian countries in spite of them being exposed to the equally culturally rich and civilized kingdoms of China. The intention of this paper is to understand that, conquest by war is not always the only reason for architectural influences and impacts.

Keywords: Architectural influence, Buddhist architecture, Indian architecture, Southeast Asian architecture.

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