bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
TRADISI LISAN BHANTI-BHANTI SEBAGAI MEDIA KOMUNIKASI KULTURAL DALAM MASYARAKAT WAKATOBI
Authors: Udu Sumiman
Published: November 2016

Bhanti-bhanti is a folksong that grown and developed in Wakatobi society. As a folksong, the performancing of bhanti-bhanti oral tradition can be used as an effective cultural media of communication, especially in presenting their messages, both from the singer as well as the listeners regardless of their age and social status. The performancing of bhanti-bhanti is cultural media of communication in Wakatobi, that used by local government, sara (traditional institution), as well as local people of Wakatobi. All elements can express their thoughts and feelings about culture, history, custom, human relation with environment as well as God. They also can used bhanti-bhanti to express their toughts and feelings to someone, village, or another social issues. By using bhanti-bhanti, the listeners can not be offended by the criticism because its criticism conveyed in subtle language and full of jokes.
PERAN GANDANG TASA DALAM MEMBANGUN SEMANGAT DAN SUASANA PADA PERTUNJUKAN TABUIK DI PARIAMAN
Authors: . Asril
Published: November 2016

Performing Tabuik in society Pariaman, West Sumatra, is a tradition of cultural influence of Shi’ite Islam that has inherited the local community since about two centuries ago. Tabuik performances are “heroic” and colossal. Pariaman society presented this performance by presenting two Tabuik support group. In certain parts of the performance, these two groups are presented opposite each other. One of the most important elements in each Tabuik performance is gandang tasa, the percussion ensemble. Gandang Tasa role in a variety of contexts and series of performances Tabuik. Gandang tasa most important role is to build the spirit of supporting performances that can trigger mood Tabuik be “hot”, especially on hard-dimensional performances, so that it will make a massive fight among the supporters of Tabuik. The method used in this study is a qualitative method that emphasizes the role of the drum in the quality of every part of the Tabuik performance which refers to a variety of atmosphere that was built in the Tabuik perfomance. Gandang Tasa be decisive in establishing the spirit, atmosphere, and the dynamics in each performance of Tabuik.
DUALISME EKONOMI PADA KREDIT RAKYAT DI YOGYAKARTA PADA TAHUN 1912-1990
Authors: Akhyat Arif
Published: November 2016

The development of capitalism idea during the colonial prior to the New Order periods need a broader understanding of an historical analysis of popular credit case in Yogyakarta 1912-1990. The establishment of bank in Yogyakarta was already accomplished in the sense that it was owned and managed by state and it sell a large proportion of credit products on the open of financial system in villages. Using the historical critical method, this research seems to be the most appropriate for obtaining meaningful information on descriptions, dynamics, changes and tendencies of the  functional relationship between credit systems, state authority and the process of economic transformation in the region of Yogyakarta. Designing with the capitalism system, government credit system was not able to increase a village economy position in Yogyakarta. Popular Credit in the years of 1912-1990 as this research mentioned, is far from what villagers need. Banking system, in practices, was designed to create and produce a subsisten economy. The dual economy experiences of popular credit in Yogyakarta historically had given the state to be the hegemony holder. Popular credit is no more or less as the construct of economic boundaries under the concept of colonialism
A PHONETIC CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH WORDS IN THREE JAPANESE SONGS BY AKB48
Authors: Anjarningsih Harwintha Y. , Saraayu Anisa
Published: November 2016

Many studies have revealed how Japanese speakers pronounce English words differently. However, not much research has explained the causes of the difference, let alone relating such difference with native language interference. By drawing a comparison between the sound structures of the English and Japanese languages using Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH), we will see how native language may influence foreign language usage and cause pronunciation differences in popular songs. Transcriptions of three AKB48’s songs – Heavy Rotation, Sugar Rush, and Namida Surprise – will be used as the data sources to determine native language interference. Our findings show that additions of vowel sounds, changes of syllable, changes of height and place of vowel articulation, replacements of a consonant with another consonant, and elisions of consonants happened to the English words across the three songs. These phonetic changes should inform discussions about the relationship between lyrics and melody in songs that incorporate two or more languages (i.e., bilingual).
LANGUAGE APPRAISAL ON ATTITUDINAL SYSTEMS FOR EXPLORING IDEOLOGY IN DEATH PENALTY IN SYDNEY MORNING HERALD AND HERALD SUN EDITORIALS
Authors: Ekawati Rosyida
Published: November 2016

This article deals with the ideology represented by newspaper editorials. It is from the idea that every language use is never neutral and not ideology-free. Language is used to convey meanings in a broad sense. There are meanings related to the opinions through the language as resources of evaluation. Editorial is one practice of language use full of opinions towards a certain issue on people or things. Sydney Morning Herald and Herald Sun are used as both Australian newspaper posit themselves as the high-rank newspaper in terms of circulation and online accessed. This article tries to uncover the ideologies represented by both newspaper editorials concerning death penalty of Bali Nine executed in Indonesia. Attitudinal perspective proposed by Martin and White (2005) in term of affect, judgement, and appreciation of language appraisal is used to explore ideology in the newspaper. From appraisal analysis, it is found that Indonesia dominantly appraised in negative There is no positive appreciation for Indonesia in both newspaper editorials. judgement while Australia is portrayed in positive view for the issue of death penalty in Indonesia.
POLITENESS STRATEGIES PERFORMED BY TEACHERS TO EFFECTIVELY ASSIST CHILDREN WITH AUTISM IN THEIR LEARNING PROCESS
Authors: Sugini Sugini , Djatmika Djatmika , Maryadi Maryadi
Published: November 2016

The paper discusses the politeness strategies conducted by teachers of autism centre in Surakarta in supporting them doing their jobs effectively. They are professionals who care and treat children with autism for their cognitive as well as psychomotoric development. Data were collected from four learning processes performed by four different female teachers with a different child for each. The analysis was carried out to see how politeness strategies selected by the teachers help them in performing effective assisting and learning process for the kids. The results show that politeness strategies were conducted by the teachers in two modes—verbally and non-verbally. They were exploited to accommodate the skill transfer to the children with autism effectively. The autism condition of each child governed each teacher to select the types of the politeness—in which bald on strategy dominated the exploitation, followed by positive and negative politeness. In addition, no teacher chose off record strategy for her class. This exploitation is considered effective due to the exceptional condition of the children. Clear and direct utterances which encourage their self esteem are good choice for them. Such utterances in that features can be accommodated by those three types of politeness strategies in either verbal or non-verbal mode.
HEDGING THROUGH THE USE OF MODAL AUXILIARIES IN ENGLISH ACADEMIC DISCOURSE
Authors: Hardjanto Tofan Dwi
Published: November 2016

As a communicative strategy, hedging plays a central role in academic writing. Numerous different linguistic forms can be used to express this strategy. This article attempts to investigate modal auxiliary verbs as the principal means of expressing hedging in English academic discourse. For this purpose, a corpus of 75 primary empirical research articles from economics, linguistics, medicine, natural sciences and engineering was analyzed quantitatively with the help of corpus linguistic method. The results revealed that modal auxiliaries were used most frequently in linguistics and economics and least frequently in engineering and natural sciences while their use in medicine came in between. This seems to suggest that there is noticeable disciplinary variation in the degree of hedging through the use of modal auxiliaries in English research articles. Modal auxiliaries tend to be more common in soft sciences than in hard sciences whereas their use in health sciences in comparison with soft and hard sciences does not seem to show any significant difference.
THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF GAMAT MUSIC AS A PROTOTYPE OF BANDAR ART IN THE WEST SUMATERA COASTAL AREA (PESISIR)
Authors: Martarosa Martarosa
Published: November 2016

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 20th century, the city of Padang has been dubbed the metropolis of the island of Sumatera. This is because the population of the Europeans who live there is relatively higher than other cities in Sumatera. An influence of this condition appears to be the phenomenon of Western-style music which was introduced to the indigenous peoples (Bandar natives). The appropriation of this musical style from various cultures such as of Portuguese (European), Malay and Minangkabau eventually became known as Gamat. Nowadays, the well-known Gamat is part of the identity of the culture, especially for Minangkabau in the West Sumatera coastal area.
Majapahit in Two Perspectives
Authors: Sektiadi Sektiadi
Published: November 2016

The two books mentioned above were published in conjunction with a seminar on Majapahit, commemorating its 721st anniversary. The great kingdom indeed withheld mysteries that have always been discussed since the late 19th century. At the least it was noted that N.J. Krom reported the relics of the kingdom two hundred years ago. The following intensive studies generated enough knowledge about this area, but they also presented the myths because not the studies could not unfold every aspect of the kingdom. These included the authorities in the kingdom’s era as well as other figures who ever lived in this region. Manuscripts such as Nagarakretagama have made scholarly and everyday discussions more interesting by making connections various aspects of the texts with archaeological findings in Trowulan area.
The History of Cultural Policy in Indonesia 1900s-2000s
Authors: Utama Wildan Sena
Published: November 2016

This book investigates how culture, particularly national culture, in Indonesia has been shaped by the government policies from the Dutch colonial period in 1900s to the Reformation era in 2000s. It is an attempt to show the relationship between the state and culture around the process of production, circulation, regulation and reception of cultural policy through different regimes. Although this book discusses government policy, the author has realized that the book needs to overcome contradictions and confusions of cultural discourse by incorporating people as explanatory element. Many aspect of culturality may be influenced by the state, but according to Jones, “it is a field that is not stable and easy to shift that facilitates resistance, and is able to turn against the state, market and other institutions” (p. 31). Jones employs two postcolonial cultural policy tools to review the history of cultural policy in Indonesia: authoritarian cultural policy and command culture. The first means that the state has assumption if majority of citizen do not have capability to inspirit a responsible citizenship and need a state’s direction in the choice of their culture. On the contrary, command culture shows that the cultural idea that is planned in fact always been placing the state as center in planning, creating policy and revising cultural practice.
Magical Realism in Aḥmad Sa‘dāwiy’s Frankenstein fī Bagdād
Authors: Mahmudah Mahmudah
Published: November 2016

This article discusses the use of magic realism as a literary device in the Iraqi novel Frankenstein fī Bagdād written by Aḥmad Sa‘dāwiy. The novel is set in the period of inter-ethnic conflict which arose after the American invasion of 2003. Hādī, the main character of the novel, ‘creates a monster’ namely Syismah from the corpses of the many bomb victims in Baghdad. The writer combines setting of the novel with belief of the Iraq people, horoscope practice, and magic, in mystical and illogical atmosphere. Given its magic realist qualities, the analysis draws on the approach of Wendy B. Faris. The article identifies five key elements from magic realism present in the novel, and discusses the relationship between these elements in order to better understand the social, ideological, and political context of the novel. The analysis shows that there are relationships between two worlds: death and life, human and ghost, physical and metaphysical, natural and supernatural.
Unconscious Structures in the Japanese Folk Tales Hebi No Yomeiri, Hato No Koukou, Tsuru No On’gaeshi, and Tanabata
Authors: Wibowo Robi
Published: November 2016

This article analyzes four Japanese folk tales (myths) using the unconscious structures approach pioneered by Lévi-Strauss to uncover the connections between these myths and the unconscious structures of the society that holds them. The first step is to find the outer structures of the four analyzed myths and analyze them both synchronically and diachronically to find their component mythemes. The second step is to analyze and identify the inner structures of these mythemes. These inner structures can then be refined into a series of binary oppositions. Subsequently, the structures of these myths are connected to ethnographic data of the Japanese people, thus producing transformations which indicate the unconscious structures under investigatie. This analysis shows there are oppositional logics centered around the concept of duty, a fundamental part of Japanese morality – opposition between “willingness” and “reluctance” as well as between “gimu”and “giri”. These oppositional logics are the unconscious structures of their reason for duty, rooted in the concept of “obeisance”.
Semiotics and Its Application in Pohutu Aadati Lihu Lo Limu Devices in Gorontalo
Authors: Lamusu Sance A.
Published: November 2016

This article is a preliminary research on pohutu aadati lihu lo limu, ‘customary ceremonial devices of lemon bath’ which focuses on sign and sign system f language existing in the cultural device. It can be concluded that there are sign and sign system of language based on relation between expression and content (ERC) and sign system of language which is based on the relation of reality and its basic kinds such as icons, indices, and symbols ([R]-[O]-[ I]. Sign and sign system [E]- [R]-[C] have forms like [R] between E and C: that the development of meaning and change to the secondary or connotative direction [C] only once occurs in expression [E] = (E-R-C); in case the event the development of meaning and change to the secondary or connotative direction [C] occurs several times (6x) in the expression [E], the form will be like the relation of [R] E(E-R1-C; E-R2-C; E-R3-C; E-R4-C; E-R5-C; E-R6-C] C. The meaning development of such form of sign and sign system both at the level of first-primary (denotative) and the level of second-secondary (connotative) occurs several times in [E]. It can be said that the meaning development at the level of first-primary (denotative) is synonymous with form indices and icons and the meaning development at the level of second-secondary (connotative) is synonymous with symbols.
Low-level laser therapy effectiveness in accelerating orthodontic tooth movement: A randomized controlled clinical trial
Authors: AlSayed Hasan Mohammad Moaffak A. , Sultan Kinda , Hamadah Omar
Published: November 2016

Objective:

To evaluate the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in accelerating orthodontic tooth movement of crowded maxillary incisors.

Materials and Methods:

This two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial involved 26 patients with severe to extreme maxillary incisors irregularity according to Little's irregularity index, indicating two first premolars extraction. Patients were randomly assigned to either the laser group or the control group (13 each). Following premolars extraction, orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances was initiated for both groups. Immediately after insertion of the first archwire, patients in the laser group received a LLL dose from an 830-nm wavelength Ga-Al-As semiconductor laser device with energy of 2 J/point. The laser was applied to each maxillary incisor's root at four points (two buccal, two palatal). Application was repeated on days 3, 7, 14, and then every 15 days starting from the second month until the end of the leveling and alignment stage. Alignment progress was evaluated on the study casts taken before inserting the first archwire (T0), after 1 month of treatment commencement (T1), after 2 months (T2), and at the end of the leveling and alignment stage (T3). The outcome measures were the overall time needed for leveling and alignment and the leveling and alignment improvement percentage.

Results:

A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in the overall treatment time (P < .001) and the leveling and alignment improvement percentage at T1 (P = .004) and T2; (P = .001).

Conclusion:

LLLT is an effective method for accelerating orthodontic tooth movement.
Preparing Teachers for Hybrid and Online Language Instruction
Authors: McNeil Merica
Published: November 2016

Courses that are offered fully or partially online are becoming increasingly common for various reasons including needs for more flexibility and the affordances that technology can offer. One major challenge is that most of today’s instructors did not learn online themselves and thus need to learn how to teach effectively using technology. This growing online trend is also true for language teaching, an area which demands special consideration due to its unique challenges: language teaching involves skill development and typically uses the target language as the medium of communication. Research has shown that teacher preparation and ongoing support are critical to the success of hybrid and online courses (Rubio & Thoms, 2014a). This article provides a review of the literature on best practices in preparing and supporting those who teach a language in online or hybrid environments. Based on this, a model for professional development is proposed, which can be used and adapted by language program directors. Guidelines on developing these courses and supporting teachers as well as suggestions for further reading are provided.
A Brief Note on Bus Based Evacuation Planning
Authors: Thapa Bam Bahadur , Khadka Shree Ram
Published: November 2016

Evacuation route planning is essential for emergency preparedness, especially in regions threatened by hurricanes, earthquake etc. The evacuees who do not travel on their own are gathered at few collection points, where they are brought on buses to take them to safe region in bus based evacuation. Bus based evacuation planning is more essential for developing country like Nepal. It is necessary to reach the destination as early as possible for bus based evacuation. The bus based evacuation planning (BEP) problem is a variant of vehicle routing problem that arises in emergency planning. The problem in this variant is that not all the evacuees can gather at the same time, elderly and handicaps may need special help like wheelchair and may need more pickup time. Another problem is that at the shelter, some people may need special care like medicine, oxygen etc. In this paper we review a mathematical model to minimize the duration of evacuation together with the dynamic programming and the branch and bound as solution procedures. Moreover, a brief report of a case study for Kathmandu has also been given.Journal of Institute of Science and TechnologyVolume 21, Issue 1, August 2016, page: 28-34
Cultivation of Oyster Mushroom: A Sustainable Approach of Rural Development in Nepal
Authors: Pokhrel Chandra P.
Published: November 2016

This study attempts to investigate the easily acceptable and low cost technology of Oyster mushroom cultivation. Locally and easily available substrates such as corn cob, vegetable residue and waste paper were examined with the supplementation of rice bran and chicken manure separately. During the study mycelial growth, spawn run, pin head formation, yield and biological efficiency were observed. Best mycelial extension, early pin head formation and better yield were observed in corn cob substrate followed by paper waste and vegetable residue. Among the substrates used, corn cob showed the highest yield with range from 99.08 to 109.50 % biological efficiency, whereas 69.81 to 88.36 % and 52.26 to 65.22 % biological efficiency was observed in paper waste and vegetable residue respectively. Rice bran was the best supplement for the promotion of growth and development of Oyster mushroom. Journal of Institute of Science and TechnologyVol. 21, No. 1, 2016, page:56-60
Structural and Optical Characterization of Zinc Oxide Films Prepared By Two Stage; Spin Coating and Hydrothermal Process
Authors: Dangol Laxmi , Joshi Leela Pradhan
Published: November 2016

Thin films of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) of average thickness 364 nm were deposited on glass substrates via hydrothermal process using a mixture of 25 mM aqueous solutions of zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine at a constant temperature of 75 ± 5°C. The structure of ZnO film was analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Our result showed that ZnO film is of polycrystalline nature with preferential orientation along (002) perpendicular to the substrate. Average crystallite size of prepared ZnO film was found to be 18 nm. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image clearly showed the growth of nano-plate structure with an average thickness and breadth of 90 nm and 390 nm respectively. The band gap of ZnO was determined from transmittance spectrum captured in the visible wavelength. The calculated value of direct band gap was 3.24 eV.Journal of Institute of Science and TechnologyVol. 21, No. 1, 2016, page: 61-64
A New Variant of Newton’s Method With Fourth–Order Convergence
Authors: Jnawali Jivandhar , Bhatta Chet Raj
Published: November 2016

In this paper, we present new iterative method for solving nonlinear equations with fourth-order convergence. This method is free from second and higher order derivatives. We find this iterative method by using Newton's theorem for inverse function and approximating the indefinite integral in Newton's theorem by the linear combination of harmonic mean rule and Wang formula. Numerical examples show that the new method competes with Newton method, Weerakoon - Fernando method and Wang method.Journal of Institute of Science and TechnologyVol. 21, No. 1, 2016, page :86-89
Population Structure of Rhododendron Campanulatum D. Don and Associated Tree Species along the Elevational Gradient of Manaslu Conservation Area, Nepal
Authors: Rana Prabina , Koirala Madan , Bhuju Dinesh Raj , Boonchird Chuenchit
Published: November 2016

Climate change is affecting the forest ecosystems worldwide. Impacts of climate change are more perceptible at higher altitudes and can be easily detected along the elevational gradient. The main aim is to study the impact of elevation on the population structure of Rhododendron campanulatum D. Don and associated trees species at Manaslu Conservation Area, central Nepal. A total of 30 quadrats were sampled from 3600-4100 meter above sea level (m asl.) at altitudinal difference of 100 m with 5 quadrates in each altitude. The present study showed that R. campanulatum, Betula utilis, Abies spectabilis and Sorbus microphylla are the treeline species. R. campanulatum was the most dominant species with highest importance value index (IVI) along the altitudinal gradient. At 4000 m asl. S. microphylla was the codominant species. B. utilis was the codominant species at 3600 -3900 m asl followed by S. microphylla and A. spectabilis. R. campanulatum and A. spectabilis showed a sustainable regeneration. No seedling of B. utilis was found along the altitudinal gradient indicating that the regeneration of this species might be affected by unfavourable micohabitat (eg. deep shade). R. campanulatum and S. microphylla were found above the treeline indicating that the climatic conditions were favourable for their growth. The height, diameter and density of the species differed along the elevational gradient and showed a species specific trend. Journal of Institute of Science and TechnologyVol. 21, No. 1, 2016, page:
Evolution of Late Wintertime Thermally Driven Local Flows and Temperature Fields over Far-Western Nepal
Authors: Regmi Ram P. , Maharjan Sangeeta
Published: November 2016

Atmospheric processes over the Himalayan complex terrain are yet to be studied extensively. Only a few significant researches are reported from this region and the Far-Western Region (FWR) of Nepal still remains untouched. Thus, the present study was conceived to understand the meteorological flow characteristics and thermal environment over the region and associated areas during the late wintertime with the application of the state-of-the-art-of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Modeling System. The study revealed that the northern mountainous region developed strong down slope wind during the night and morning times, which sweeps out the southern plain area of Nepal and may reach just beyond the border. The wind over the plain was very shallow whose depth was just about 100 m. The down slope winds over the southern slope of the Daijee and Nandhaur mountain ranges were significantly enhanced by the subsidence of the southerly wind that prevails above 1 km height above the mean sea level. Close to the noon time a very gentle southerly valley wind from the southern plain replaced the nighttime down slope. Very shallow but strong surface inversion builds up over the plain that breaks up in the late morning. The depth of the mixed layer and the valley wind may reach up to 1km in the afternoon. The thermal environment over the FWR of Nepal was fairly hot that may remain around 35°C in the afternoon around the Mahendranagar area whereas the temperature during the nighttime may go as low as 23°C. The study revealed that, contrary to the general perception, temperature over plain areas of Nepal was significantly higher than further southern areas belonging to India. The meteorological flow fields over the FWR of Nepal executed diurnal periodicity with little day-to-day variation during the late wintertime.Journal of Institute of Science and TechnologyVolume 21, Issue 1, August 2016, page: 35-47
Fabrication and Characterization of Aluminium-Rice Husk Ash Composite Prepared by Stir Casting Method
Authors: Ahamed Adnan Adib , Ahmed Rashed , Hossain Muhammad Benzir , Billah Masum
Published: November 2016

Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) constitute an important category of design and weight-efficient materials. This article highlights on the work where an attempt is taken to fabricate aluminium matrix composite reinforced with rice husk ash (RHA) particles, an agricultural byproduct with high amount of silica. RHA particles, upon analysis, are incorporated into the Al matrix melt by stir casting. Magnesium (~1%) is used as a wetting agent between matrix and reinforcement. 3, 6 and 9% wt. of RHA are added into the matrix. The microstructure analysis reveals the reinforcing particle distribution inside the matrix which indicates successful fabrication of the composites. The density and mechanical properties such as strength and hardness are measured for both unreinforced metal and composites. The results found in the tests show a decrease in density with increasing reinforcement while increasing yield strength, ultimate strength and hardness of the composites with increasing reinforcement from the unreinforced condition.
Preparation of Hydrophobic Poly (lauryl methacrylate-divinyl benzene) Coated Magnetic Nano-composite Particles and Their Application as Adsorbents for Organic Pollutants
Authors: Shabnam Rukhsana , Ahmad Hasan
Published: November 2016

This work introduces a method for the preparation of magnetic nano-composite particles coated with highly crosslinked poly (lauryl methacrylate) (PLMA), a hydrophobic polymer containing long chain alkyl groups for application in waste water treatment. The produced magnetic composite particles named Fe3O4/SiO2/P(LMA-DVB) were characterized by Fourier Transform IR (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) analyses. Then the prepared composite particles were used for the removal of organic pollutants from water. The adsorption behavior was dependent on the nature of the pollutants with congo red showed highest adsorption efficiency.
Experimental Study on Silicon Nanocrystals Rich Lanthanum Fluoride Films for Future Electronic Devices
Authors: Rahman Md. Ferdous , Ahmed Sheikh Rashel Al , Saklayen Golam , Ismail Abu Bakar Md.
Published: November 2016

Feasibility for the future electronic devices a thorough investigation on Silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) rich Lanthanum Fluoride (LaF3) film fabricated using a novel onestep chemical method has been reported here. Colloidal solution of Si-NCs in hydrofluoric acid (HF) was prepared from meso-porous silicon by ultrasonic vibration (sonication). On a silicon (Si) substrate LaCl3 solution in HCL is allowed to react with the colloidal solution of prepared Si-NCs. LaCl3 reacts with HF of Si-NCs solution and produces LaF3 crystals that deposits on the silicon substrate as a film embedding Si-NCs. This is a novel single step chemical way of depositing LaF3 insulating layer embedding Si-NCs (LaF3:Si-NCs). The XRD and EDX analysis of the deposited film show a polycrystalline and non-stoichiometric nature of LaF3. The presence of Si-NCs was confirmed by SEM. Application of this material has been tested for low-voltage operating non-volatile memory (NVM) and Schottky junction solar cells. The Al/LaF3:Si-NCs/Al structure as NVM offered a memory window of 525 mV at a programming and erasing bias of 2V. LaF3:Si-NCs films showed strong light absorption. Current-Voltage (I-V) characteristics of the Schottky device in ITO/LaF3:Si-NCs/Al structure showed a dependency on the incident light intensity where current was varied in the range of 5 mA to 40 mA and under various light illumination i.e., 400 lux to 1200 lux. Experimental results show a lot of promise of Si-NCs-rich LaF3 film to be used as an insulating film in non-volatile memory as well as a photoactive material in Schottkey junction solar cell.
Analyzing Wavelet and Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition of MRI Segmentation using Fuzzy C-Means Clustering
Authors: Chuwdhury Gulam Sarwar , Khaliluzzaman Md. , Mahfuz Md. Rashed-Al
Published: November 2016

Image segmentation is a vital step in medical image processing. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used for brain tissues extraction in white and gray matter. These tissues extraction help in image segmentation applications such as radiotherapy planning, clinical diagnosis, treatment planning. This paper presents utilization of fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering by using wavelet and bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) to improve the quality of noisy MR images. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) value is calculated from FCM clustering data to examine the best segmentation technique. The experiment with synthetic Brain Web images has demonstrated the efficiency and robustness of the appropriate approach in segmenting medical MRI.
A Practical Approach to Spectrum Analyzing Unit Using RTL-SDR
Authors: Rahman Md. Habibur , Islam Md. Mamunoor
Published: November 2016

In the present scenario, there has been an immense advancement in the field of wireless communication in this modern engineering world. Now-a-days Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology is an indisputable emerging technology and presents new challenges for communications engineers. The advancement of SDR system has made significant progress in recent years which makes it as a serious substitute of traditional hardware radio architectures where the mathematical procedures are obligatory to decode and process radio signals using analogue circuitry. Recently, computers have turned out to be powerful enough to do the required mathematical calculations using software. So aim of this paper is to demonstrate a RTL-SDR based spectrum analyzer which can be used proficiently as an alternative of existing hardware spectrum analyzer. This approach will lessen the complexity of analogue hardware system with the higher tractability of software based filtering and demodulation techniques. As RTL-SDR devices are quite cheap (Approximately 20$) and small sized, this system also offers cost effectiveness with provision of portability. An experimental study was conducted with suitable conditions to examine the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed system. The outcome of experimental result is thoroughly examined in this paper.
A Calibration Method for Nonlinear Mismatches in M-Channel Time-Interleaved Analog-to-Digital Converters Based on Hadamard Sequences
Authors: Liu Husheng , Wang Yinan , Li Nan , Xu Hui
Published: November 2016

The time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter (TIADC) is an architecture used to achieve a high sampling rate and high dynamic performance. However, estimation and compensation methods are required to maintain the dynamic performance of the constituent analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) due to channel mismatches. This paper proposes a blind adaptive method to calibrate the nonlinear mismatches in M-channel TIADCs (M-TIADCs). The nonlinearity-induced error signal is reconstructed by the proposed multiplier Hadamard transform (MHT) structure, and the nonlinear parameters are estimated by the filtered-X least-mean square (FxLMS) algorithm. The performance of cascade calibration is also analyzed. The numerical simulation results show that the proposed method consumes much less hardware resources while maintaining the calibration performance.
Spectral Envelope Transformation in Singing Voice for Advanced Pitch Shifting
Authors: Santacruz José , Tardón Lorenzo , Barbancho Isabel , Barbancho Ana
Published: November 2016

The aim of the present work is to perform a step towards more natural pitch shifting techniques in singing voice for its application in music production and entertainment systems. In this paper, we present an advanced method to achieve natural modifications when applying a pitch shifting process to singing voice by modifying the spectral envelope of the audio excerpt. To this end, an all-pole model has been selected to model the spectral envelope, which is estimated using a constrained non-linear optimization. The analysis of the global variations of the spectral envelope was carried out by identifying changes of the parameters of the model along with the changes of the pitch. With the obtained spectral envelope transformation functions, we applied our pitch shifting scheme to some sustained vowels in order to compare results with the same transformation made by using the Flex Pitch plugin of Logic Pro X and pitch synchronous overlap and add technique (PSOLA). This comparison has been carried out by means of both an objective and a subjective evaluation. The latter was done with a survey open to volunteers on our website.
Short-Term Effects of Drying and Rewetting on CO2 and CH4 Emissions from High-Altitude Peatlands on the Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Zeng Xiaoyang , Gao Yongheng
Published: November 2016

This study used mesocosms to examine the effects of alternate drying and rewetting on CO2 and CH4 emissions from high-altitude peatlands on the Tibetan Plateau. The drying and rewetting experiment conducted in this study included three phases: a 10-day predrying phase, a 32-day drying phase, and an 18-day rewetting phase. During the experiment, the water table varied between 0 and 50 cm with respect to the reference peat column where the water table stayed constant at 0 cm. The study found that drying and rewetting had no significant effect on CO2 emissions from the peatland, while CH4 emissions decreased. The cumulative CH4 emissions in the control group was 2.1 times higher than in the drying and rewetting treatment over the study period. Moreover, CO2 and CH4 emissions were positively correlated with soil temperature, and the drying process increased the goodness of fit of the regression models predicting the relationships between CO2 and CH4 emissions and temperature. These results indicate that small-scale water table variation has a limited effect on CO2 emissions, but might reduce CH4 emissions in high-altitude peatlands on the Tibetan Plateau.
Dynamic Duos? Jamaican Fruit Bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) Do Not Show Prosocial Behavior in a Release Paradigm
Authors: Hoffmaster Eric , Vonk Jennifer
Published: November 2016

Once thought to be uniquely human, prosocial behavior has been observed in a number of species, including vampire bats that engage in costly food-sharing. Another social chiropteran, Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis), have been observed to engage in cooperative mate guarding, and thus might be expected to display prosocial behavior as well. However, frugivory and hematophagy diets may impose different selection pressures on prosocial preferences, given that prosocial preferences may depend upon cognitive abilities selected by different ecological constraints. Thus, we assessed whether Jamaican fruit bats would assist a conspecific in an escape paradigm in which a donor could opt to release a recipient from an enclosure. The test apparatus contained two compartments—one of which was equipped with a sensor that, once triggered, released the trap door of the adjacent compartment. Sixty-six exhaustive pairs of 12 bats were tested, with each bat in each role, twice when the recipient was present and twice when absent. Bats decreased their behavior of releasing the trapdoor in both conditions over time, decreasing the behavior slightly more rapidly in the recipient absent condition. Bats did not release the door more often when recipients were present, regardless of the recipient; thus, there was no clear evidence of prosocial behavior.
Molecularly Imprinted Quartz Crystal Microbalance Sensor (QCM) for Bilirubin Detection
Authors: Çiçek Çiğdem , Yılmaz Fatma , Özgür Erdoğan , Yavuz Handan , Denizli Adil
Published: November 2016

This study aims the preparation of a QCM sensor for the detection of bilirubin in human plasma. Bilirubin-imprinted poly-(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-N-methacryloyl-l-tryptophan methyl ester) (PHEMATrp) nanofilm (MIP) on the gold surface of a QCM chip was synthesized by the molecular imprinting technique. Meanwhile, the non-imprinted PHEMATrp (NIP) nanofilm was synthesized by the same experimental technique to examine the imprinting effect. Characterization of MIP and NIP nanofilms on the QCM chip surface was achieved by atomic force microscopy (AFM), ellipsometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and contact angle measurements (CA). The observations indicated that the nanofilm was almost in a monolayer. Thereinafter, the imprinted and the non-imprinted QCM chips were connected to the QCM system to investigate kinetic and affinity properties. In order to examine the selectivity of the MIP-PHEMATrp nanofilm, competitive adsorption of bilirubin with cholesterol and estradiol was performed. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) values were calculated as 0.45 μg/mL and 0.9 μg/mL, respectively.
Specialized Rehabilitation Programs for Children and Adolescents with Severe Disabling Chronic Pain: Indications, Treatment and Outcomes
Authors: Stahlschmidt Lorin , Zernikow Boris , Wager Julia
Published: November 2016

Children and adolescents with highly disabling chronic pain of high intensity and frequency are admitted to specialized pain rehabilitation programs. Some barriers to obtaining this specialized care include a lack of availability of treatment centers, a perceived social stigma and individual barriers such as socioeconomic status. Specialized rehabilitation programs for severe disabling chronic pain worldwide have similarities regarding admission criteria, structure and therapeutic orientation. They differ, however, regarding their exclusion criteria and program descriptions. The short- and long-term effectiveness of some rehabilitation programs is well documented. All countries should promote the establishment of future pediatric pain centers to improve the health care of children and adolescents suffering from severe chronic pain. Standardized reporting guidelines should be developed to describe treatments and outcomes to enable comparability across treatment centers.
Structural Study of Silica Coating Thin Layers Prepared from Perhydropolysilazane: Substrate Dependence and Water Penetration Structure
Authors: Niizeki Tomotake , Nagayama Sachiko , Hasegawa Yoshio , Miyata Noboru , Sahara Masae , Akutsu Kazuhiro
Published: November 2016

The structure of perhydropolysilazane (PHPS)-derived silica (PDS) waterproof thin layers synthesized by curing at 60 °C for 1 h and allowed to stand for 48 h at 20 °C on various kinds of substrates was studied. Neutron reflectivity (NR) analysis suggested that uniform PDS thin layers were synthesized on the substrates, and the density of the layers varied depending on the type of substrate. Additionally, since the change in PDS density is correlated with the pKa value of the OH group on the substrate, it can be suggested that the acidity of the substrate would be one of the main factors determining the density of the coated PDS thin layers. For the water penetration structure study, NR analysis revealed that the depth of water penetration into the PDS layers was below 500 Å, and the hydration number of the SiO2 molecule was estimated to be 8.0–9.0. From these results, we concluded that water penetration occurred by the formation of water-pool structures in the PDS layers, and the randomly formed nano-air holes lead to a reduction in the probability of water penetration into the deep regions of the PDS layers.
Analysis of the Complexity Entropy and Chaos Control of the Bullwhip Effect Considering Price of Evolutionary Game between Two Retailers
Authors: Ma Junhai , Ma Xiaogang , Lou Wandong
Published: November 2016

In this research, a model is established to represent a supply chain, which consists of one manufacturer and two retailers. The price-sensitive demand model is considered and the price game system is built according to the rule of bounded rationality as well as the entropy theory. With the increase of the price adjustment speed, the game system may go into chaos from the stable and periodic state. The bullwhip effect and inventory variance ratio of different stages that the system falls in are compared in real time. We also employ the delayed feedback control method to control the system and succeed in mitigating the bullwhip effect of the system. On the whole, the bullwhip effect and inventory variance ratio in the stable state are smaller than those in period-doubling and chaos. In the stable state, there is an optimal price adjustment speed to obtain both the lowest bullwhip effect and inventory variance ratio.
Estimation of Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Transportation in Beef Cattle Production
Authors: Kannan Narayanan , Saleh Ali , Osei Edward
Published: November 2016

Accounting for transportation is an important part of the life cycle analysis (LCA) of beef cattle production because it is associated with energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper describes the development and application of a model that estimates energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of transport in beef cattle production. The animal transport model is based on the weight and number of animals in each weight category, type of trailer, vehicle, and fuel used. The energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission estimates of animal feed transportation are based on the weight of a truckload and the number of truckloads of feed transported. Our results indicate that a truckload is travelling approximately 326 km in connection with beef cattle production in the study region. The fuel consumption amounts to 24 L of fossil fuel per 1000 kg of boneless beef. The corresponding greenhouse gas emission is 83 kg. It appears from our results that the majority of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are associated with sending the finished cattle to slaughterhouses and bringing feeder cattle to feedlots. Our results point out appreciable reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by changing from conventional fuel to bio-fuel.
Expert Opinion Analysis on Renewable Hydrogen Storage Systems Potential in Europe
Authors: Astiaso Garcia Davide , Barbanera Federica , Cumo Fabrizio , Di Matteo Umberto , Nastasi Benedetto
Published: November 2016

Among the several typologies of storage technologies, mainly on different physical principles (mechanical, electrical and chemical), hydrogen produced by power to gas (P2G) from renewable energy sources complies with chemical storage principle and is based on the conversion of electrical energy into chemical energy by means of the electrolysis of water which does not produce any toxic or climate-relevant emission. This paper aims to pinpoint the potential uses of renewable hydrogen storage systems in Europe, analysing current and potential locations, regulatory framework, governments’ outlooks, economic issues, and available renewable energy amounts. The expert opinion survey, already used in many research articles on different topics including energy, has been selected as an effective method to produce realistic results. The obtained results highlight strategies and actions to optimize the storage of hydrogen produced by renewables to face varying electricity demand and generation-driven fluctuations reducing the negative effects of the increasing share of renewables in the energy mix of European Countries.
Study on the Static Load Capacity and Synthetic Vector Direct Torque Control of Brushless Doubly Fed Machines
Authors: Xia Chaoying , Hou Xiaoxin
Published: November 2016

Compared to the doubly fed machine, the brushless doubly fed machine (BDFM) has high reliability and low maintenance requirements. First, by taking the negative conjugation of the control motor variables in rotor reference frame, a state-space model of BDFM is derived. It is then transformed into synchronous reference frame, called synchronous reference frame state-space model (SSSM). In this way, all the variables of the SSSM are DC under the static state. Second, on the basis of the analysis of static equations, the possible output torque limits are obtained. Third, the causes of losing control are analyzed by the flux and the torque derivatives. A new control strategy called synthetic vector direct torque control (SVDTC) is proposed to solve the losing control problems of the conventional direct torque control (DTC). Finally, the correctness of the results of this paper is verified by calculation examples and simulation results, the losing control problems can be solved, and the theoretical output capacity limits can be reached using SVDTC.