bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Calibration of the Parameters of a Model of an Engineering System Using the Global Optimization Method
Authors: Elhajj Marwa , Younes Rafic , Charles Sebastien , Padiolleau Eric
Published: December 2014

The calibration of the model is one of the most important steps in the development of models of engineering systems. A new approach is presented in this study to calibrate a complex multi-domain system. This approach respects the real characteristics of the circuit, the accuracy of the results, and minimizes the cost of the experimental phase. This paper proposes a complete method, the Global Optimization Method for Parameter Calibration (GOMPC). This method uses an optimization technique coupled with the simulated model on simulation software. In this paper, two optimization techniques, the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and the two-level Genetic Algorithm, are applied and then compared on two case studies: a theoretical and a real hydro-electromechanical circuit. In order to optimize the number of measured outputs, a sensitivity analysis is used to identify the objective function (OBJ) of the two studied optimization techniques. Finally, results concluded that applying GOMPC by combining the two-level GA with the simulated model was an efficient solution as it proves its accuracy and efficiency with less computation time. It is believed that this approach is able to converge to the expected results and to find the system's unknown parameters faster and with more accuracy than GA.
DNA Fragment Assembly Using Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithms
Authors: Rathee Manisha , Kumar T. V. Vijay
Published: December 2014

DNA Fragment Assembly Problem (FAP) is concerned with the reconstruction of the target DNA, using the several hundreds (or thousands) of sequenced fragments, by identifying the right order and orientation of each fragment in the layout. Several algorithms have been proposed for solving FAP. Most of these have solely dwelt on the single objective of maximizing the sum of the overlaps between adjacent fragments in order to optimize the fragment layout. This paper aims to formulate this FAP as a bi-objective optimization problem, with the two objectives being the maximization of the overlap between the adjacent fragments and the minimization of the overlap between the distant fragments. Moreover, since there is greater desirability for having lesser number of contigs, FAP becomes a tri-objective optimization problem where the minimization of the number of contigs becomes the additional objective. These problems were solved using the multi-objective genetic algorithm NSGA-II. The experimental results show that the NSGA-II-based Bi-Objective Fragment Assembly Algorithm (BOFAA) and the Tri-Objective Fragment Assembly Algorithm (TOFAA) are able to produce better quality layouts than those generated by the GA-based Single Objective Fragment Assembly Algorithm (SOFAA). Further, the layouts produced by TOFAA are also comparatively better than those produced using BOFAA.
A Comparative Performance Study of Ad Hoc Routing Protocols to Improve the Route Discovery Process of AODV
Authors: Khattak Zafar Mehmood , Iqbal Muddesar , Wang Xingheng
Published: December 2014

A Mobile Adhoc Network is a multihop self-configuring network without any fixed infrastructure of wirelessly connected devices. Due to node mobility and, dynamic topology, designing and implementing reliable routing in MANET is a major challenge. This paper provides the comparative performance analysis of DSR, AODV and DSDV. Different types of test scenarios have been designed with fixed number of nodes and varying mobility. The experimental results have been analyzed and recommendations based on the obtained results have been proposed about the significance of each protocol in different scenarios and situations which will help the researcher in the field to select best protocol under predefined conditions with varied mobility. Furthermore, based on the learning from comparative performance analysis, some modification to AODV route discovery process has been proposed and evaluated. The proposed changes have made significant improvement both in throughput and packet delivery fraction.
Continuous Line Drawings and Designs
Authors: Li Hua , Mould David
Published: December 2014

Continuous Line Drawing (CLD) is a drawing style where a picture consists of a single closed non-intersecting line. This paper presents an automatic algorithm for constructing CLDs, with tone and structural information obtained from input images. The connectivity of the line is maintained through a tree generated by path finding with consideration of the key features for a given image. A branching tree structure is grown incrementally by selecting pixels by a cost function, relating to both the tone map and an importance map. After labeling each branch, an artificial wall is then constructed through a two-stage labeling propagation process to produce a single boundary, interpreted as the final CLD. The presented CLD method is effective and automatic, and provides some opportunities for variations. The paper also shows how to design CLDs from scratch using three steps: building base structures, forming shapes by thickening, and extracting CLDs by tracing the boundary of the shapes.
Visualizations in Time for a New Look at the Movies
Authors: Jorge Ana , Chambel Teresa
Published: December 2014

Movies are considered an important art form, a source of entertainment, and a powerful method for educating, having great power to affect us, perceptually, cognitively, and emotionally. A huge amount of movies and related information are becoming increasingly available due to technological advances, demanding new and more powerful ways to search, browse, and view this interesting but complex information space that changes over time. Time-oriented visualization can help to capture, express, understand, and effectively navigate movies over time: both the time when they were released, or viewed, and the time along which their contents are weaved, in each movie. This paper presents the design and evaluation of the authors' work towards the inclusion of the time dimension in 2D and 3D visualizations, based on colors and tag clouds, at the movies space level, and down to the individual movies in an interactive Web application to access, explore, and visualize movies based on the information conveyed in the different tracks or perspectives of its content, especially audio and subtitles where most of the semantics is expressed. Moreover, it is the authors' aim to help provide insights through analytical, ludic, or artistic uses, since it is the aim of these visualizations to provide non-usual kinds of search, whether the user wants a movie to watch or to be aware of the properties in its content. The authors tested the pertinence and effectiveness of the main visualizations, and the results provided a better understanding of what is more effective and appreciated, and encouraged them to continue extending and refining their work.
Fast Paxos Made Easy
Authors: Zhao Wenbing
Published: December 2014

Distributed consensus is one of the most important building blocks for distributed systems. Fast Paxos is one of the latest variants of the Paxos algorithm for distributed consensus. Fast Paxos allows an acceptor to cast a vote for a value of its choice unilaterally in a fast round, thereby eliminating a communication step for reaching consensus. As a tradeoff, the coordinator must build a quorum that is bigger than the simple majority used in Classic Paxos. This article presents the theory, implementation, and a comprehensive performance evaluation of the Fast Paxos algorithm. The theory is described in an easier-to-understand way compared with the original article by Lamport. In particular, an easy-to-implement value selection rule for the coordinator is derived. In the implementation of Fast Paxos for state-machine replication, a number of additional mechanisms are developed to cope with practical scenarios. Furthermore, the experiments reveal that Fast Paxos is most appropriate for use in a single-client configuration. The presence of two or more concurrent clients even in a local area network would incur frequent collisions, which would reduce the system throughput and increase the mean response time as experienced by clients. Due to frequent collisions, Fast Paxos actually performs worse than Classic Paxos in the presence of moderate to large number of concurrent clients.
Assessment and Enhancement of the Energy Supply System Efficiency with Emphasis on the Cogeneration and Renewable as Main Directions for Fuel Saving
Authors: Zharkov S. V.
Published: December 2014

The paper presents methods for assessing economic, resource and environmental efficiency of cogeneration plants (CPs) and energy supply systems as a whole and ways of its improvement, the main of which are the development of cogeneration and renewable energy sources (RES). The problem of allocating fuel and financial costs at the combined production in accordance with the criterion of equal profitability of supplied energy products is solved. The methods allow determining specific indicators of supplied energy products. The technology of introducing RES-based power plants to the energy supply systems by means of using unstabilized RES-based power for direct fuel substitution in thermal cycles of gas-turbine (combined cycle) and steam-turbine plants (the wind is viewed as the most promising type of RES). Connection of wind power plants to an electric grid through thermal power plants allows us to avoid solving the problems of maintaining power quality and operating reserve of the wind power plants capacity in the power system and also to use wind energy at the plants of combined heat and high-quality electric power production, small ones included. The technology can promote smooth transition to hydrogen energy. It is shown that the cogeneration saves more than 20% of fuel, and its combination with wind power station – more than 50%.
Application of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Renewable Energy Generation from Micro-Hydel Projects of Himachal Pradesh
Authors: Sarkar A. N.
Published: December 2014

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is defined as one of the “flexibility” mechanisms that allows entities based in Developed Countries (Annex I Parties) to develop emission-reducing projects in Developing Countries (non-Annex I Parties), and generate tradable carbon credits corresponding to the volume of carbon emission reductions achieved by those projects. CDM projects have been developed in several parts of the world across the sectoral economies, including renewable energy, with reportedly varying degrees of success and failures. In the renewable energy segment, CDM has been successfully deployed in Micro-Hydel power projects to mitigate and offset green-house gas emissions into the environment. The experiences of different implementing states are vastly different in past decade. CDM applications in Micro-Hydel projects have been quite notable to generate hydro-power and mitigate emissions in the state. This paper takes a holistic review about the current status in the performance of CDM projects in India, with special reference to Himachal Pradesh, particularly in the context of Small (Micro)-Hydel projects with a very high renewable energy potential. The achievements as well as strategy of implementation of Small-Hydel projects in Himachal Pradesh is discussed in the light of selected case studies of CDM projects that are at various stages of formulation, designing and implementation. Guidelines for CDM project designing and the potential for carbon markets for the hydro-power in the context of Himachal Pradesh is discussed. Some of the shortcomings in implementation of Micro-Hydel CDM project in the State are also discussed and highlighted in the paper. The paper has also examined the status of implementation and the quality of projects in the form of illustrative case studies in terms of their ability for energy extraction, creating energy trading opportunities, and stakeholder participation in sharing the project benefits during the lifetime as well as the beyond the life-time of the projects.
An Integrated View of Communicational, Educational and Technological Categories Applied to the Content Production for IDTV and Mobile Devices
Authors: Furtado Elizabeth Sucupira , Cardoso Rafaela Ponte Lisboa , Neto Hermínio Borges
Published: December 2014

The improvement of the Brazilian system of interactive Digital Television (iDTV) has amplified usage perspectives for television in the educational realm, due to new possibilities of interaction. Thus, there is a growing discussion over the development of educational content that will address the needs of this new reality. The present article describes concepts of the technological, communicational and educational categories in an integrated proposal for the definition of educational content for iDTV. An interdisciplinary team applies steps and resources of integration, having T-ViLO (Video interactive Learning Objects for Television) as a representation of the content developed. Results showed that the integration proposal led the professionals both to realize the integration among the elements in the T-ViLO production and to analyze this integration in the produced T-ViLO.
Developing Adaptive and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (AITS)
Authors: Hafidi Mohamed , Bensebaa Tahar
Published: December 2014

Several adaptive and intelligent tutoring systems (AITS) have been developed with different variables. These variables were the cognitive traits, cognitive styles, and learning behavior. However, these systems neglect the importance of learner's multiple intelligences, learner's skill level and learner's feedback when implementing personalized mechanisms. In this paper, the authors propose AITS based not only on the learner's multiple intelligences, but also the changing learning performance of the individual learner during the learning process. Therefore, considering learner's skill level and learner's multiple intelligences can promote personalized learning performance. Learner's skill level is obtained from pre-test result analysis, while learner's multiple intelligences are obtained from the analysis of questionnaire. After computing learning success rate of an activity, the system then modifies the difficulty level or the presentation of the corresponding activity to update courseware material sequencing. Learning process in this system is as follows. First, the system determines learning style and characteristics of the learner by an MI-Test and then makes the model. After that it plans a pre-evaluation and then calculates the score. If the learner gets the required score, the activities will be trained. Then the learner will be evaluated by a post-evaluation. Finally the system offers guidance in learning other activities. The proposed system covers all important properties such as hypertext component, adaptive sequencing, problem- solving support, intelligent solution analysis and adaptive presentation while available systems have only some of them. It can significantly improve the learning result. In other words, it helps learners to study in “the best way.”
Serious Gaming for User Centered Innovation and Adoption of Disaster Response Information Systems
Authors: Meesters Kenny , Van de Walle Bartel
Published: December 2014

Global profusion of information technology has spawned a large and varied number of tools and systems to aid disaster responders in managing disaster-related information. To adequately study the conception, development and deployment of such tools and systems, the user and the operational context in which user tasks are performed play a central role. As natural disasters however happen unexpectedly, often occur in remote areas and always impose working conditions of high time pressure and high situational volatility, user involvement is difficult to achieve for adequately studying tools and systems in disaster conditions. Current approaches for adoption in disaster conditions are therefore either resource intensive or lack realism, or both. This paper proposes the use of serious games to balance the realism of a disaster situation with an efficient and effective study setup and execution. Building on existing literature for serious gaming, it presents a serious game that focuses on the information management and decision making processes in an urban search and rescue setting. Through several game instances that have been played in the past three years, it examines the usefulness of serious games as a method to conduct research, to facilitate user centered development and to support dissemination activities.
The Determinants of Health Expenditures in Tunisia
Authors: Chaabouni Sami , Abednnadher Chokri
Published: December 2014

This article examines the determinants of health expenditures in Tunisia during the period 1961-2008, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach by Pesaran et al. (2001). The results of the bounds test show that there is a stable long-run relationship between per capita health expenditure, GDP, population ageing, medical density and environmental quality. In fact, on the one hand there are the short-run and long-run results which reveal that health care is a necessity, not a luxury good. On the other hand, results of the causality test show that there is a bidirectional causal flow from health expenditures to income, both in the short and in the long run.
Journal Rankings
Authors: Cahn E. Susanna
Published: December 2014

Research productivity is important in school reputation as well as individual faculty evaluation. In order to evaluate research productivity, the quality of research is often measured by proxy through the number of journal articles and ratings of the journals in which they appear. Because of this there is significant pressure on faculty to publish in the “top journals”. There are several metrics for evaluating and ranking journals, each of them with its own merits and limitations. Some commonly used quantitative measures of research quality are citation analyses, acceptance rates, and whether or not a journal is peer reviewed. Alternatively, journals can be ranked qualitatively into stratified groups based on reputation. Reputation, in turn, may be correlated with perceived values of quantitative measures, and thus is more subjective. The purpose of this research is to examine the extent of correlation between various measures of journal quality, in particular between quantitative and qualitative measures. The various measures are compared to examine the extent to which they are similar. Comparisons were also made among business departments. For this sample, overall journal rank was correlated with citation rate but not with acceptance rate. However, quantitative measures were not consistent among academic departments, indicating that journal rank can not be reliably used to make interdepartmental comparisons.
Integrating Mobile Learning in an Undergraduate Course
Authors: Ishtaiwa Fawzi
Published: December 2014

This study investigated students' perceptions towards the affordances and challenges of integrating mobile learning (m-learning) into an undergraduate course. It also examined the impact of students' gender on their perceived affordances and challenges. The relationship between students' perceived affordances and perceived challenges of m-learning was also explored. Questionnaires distributed to 76 students and semi-structured interviews conducted with 17 students were used for collecting data to answer the research questions. The results revealed that students' perceptions towards the affordances of m-learning were particularly positive. They indicated that m-learning can provide an active, flexible, contextualised, and situated learning environment. However, several challenges are associated with m-learning integration. Most notable are: distraction, small device screens, plagiarism, cost, and parents' negative attitudes toward m-learning. The study also revealed that students' gender significantly impacted on the perceived affordances and challenges of m-learning. Finally, a negative significant correlation was found between mobile technology affordances and challenges.
Mobile Voting Systems for Creating Collaboration Environments and Getting Immediate Feedback
Authors: Titova Svetlana , Talmo Tord
Published: December 2014

Mobile devices can enhance learning and teaching by providing instant feedback and better diagnosis of learning problems, helping design new assessment models, enhancing learner autonomy and creating new formats of enquiry-based activities. The objective of this paper is to investigate the pedagogical impact of mobile voting tools. The authors' research demonstrated that Student Response System (SRS) supported approaches influenced not only lecture design - time management, the mode of material presentation, activity switch patterns - but also learner-teacher interaction, student collaboration and output, formats of activities and tasks. SRS-supported lectures help instructors gradually move towards flipped classrooms and MOOC lecturing. The authors' analysis, based on qualitative and quantitative data collected from two student groups (56 undergraduate students) in the 2012-2013 academic year, showed that SRS supported lectures encouraged foreign language learners to produce more output in the target language, improved their intercultural competence and language skills and enhanced their motivation.
Delivering and Assessing Learning Material through Gquest
Authors: Lanzola Giordano , Ginardi Germana , Russo Paola , Quaglini Silvana
Published: December 2014

Gquest is a mobile platform for administering interviewing and learning material. It relies on a model that supports adaptivity in the dialog with its users and enforces consistency rules to constrain their input. Gquest downloads its modules over the air making them available to the users, then a synchronization engine collects any input provided and sends it to a server for evaluation purposes. Thus, Gquest supports learning about user behaviors or preferences by administering interviewing material and collecting answers. However, by reversing the conversation paradigm it also supports the delivery of learning material. In this paper we illustrate a case study in which both paradigms have been exploited. First we implemented a guide for training patients on a rare disease called amyloidois, and second we integrated a plain questionnaire at the end of that guide to assess the quality of learning perceived by the user.
Exploring Students' Motivations in Using Blogs at the Primary School Level
Authors: Ong Gina May Yuen , Cheung Wing Sum
Published: December 2014

Blogs have been widely used in education for the numerous benefits the tool offers. Previous research has examined the use of blogs in various educational settings, but very few studies have been carried out at the primary level. This study explored students' motivations to use blogs in a primary school context. A case study approach was adopted and data were collected through online reflections, supported by and triangulated with data from face-to-face interviews. Findings revealed several reasons that motivated students to blog, and students' motivations to blog seemed to suggest that the students were subconsciously meeting one or more psychological needs, namely belonging, competence, freedom, and fun, and the need for competence was the most prevalent amongst students in this study. This study also provides teachers in the school to gain some insights into what motivated their students to use blogs when they design instructional activities in the future.
Motivators of Student Contribution in Peer-Facilitated Online Discussion Environments
Authors: Foon Hew Khe
Published: December 2014

Online discussion forums are increasingly being utilized to provide a means for student-to-student interaction in e-learning environments. There is comparatively little research that examines peer-facilitated asynchronous online discussions compared to instructor-facilitated ones. This paper reports three studies on the motivators of student contribution in online discussions conducted within the context of peer-facilitation. These three studies involved the following samples: (a) full-time undergraduates (n = 47), (b) full-time graduates (n = 41), and (c) working adults in corporate settings (n = 62). Cross-comparison of the three studies revealed six major motivators: discussion topic, performance-linked incentive, personal gain, social capital, enjoyment, and response from other participants. Interestingly and contrary to expectations, the most common motivator was not performance-linked incentive such as marks for contribution but (a) the type of discussion topic followed by (b) the types of responses from other participants. Further analyses revealed that more graduate students reported being motivated by personal gain motives compared to undergraduates and working adults, and fewer undergraduates reported being motivated by the enjoyment of the discussion compared to graduates and working adults. More undergraduate and graduate students reported being motivated by marks compared to working adults. Synthesizing the findings of this study and those reported in other previous studies produces a more updated and comprehensive understanding of what motivates students to contribute in peer-facilitated online discussions. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Measuring the Financial Value of Marketing Strategy with Excess Stock Market Return
Authors: Lane Vicki
Published: December 2014

This paper proposes excess stock market return as a way to measure the impact of marketing strategy on firm value. First, it provides an overview of event study method. An event study examines the excess return to a firm's stock price after the release of information that is relevant to the firm's financial success. Second, it shows how excess return captures a marketing strategy's impact on firm value. It presents a model that illustrates how a marketing strategy impacts consumers, future cash flows, firm value, investor's expectations, and excess return. Third, a comparison shows that excess return stacks up well against standard marketing metrics. Excess return yields unbiased estimates, allows direct causal inference, is future oriented, includes all cash flows, accounts for opportunity costs, factors in risk, and takes into account the time value of money.
Supply Risk Management Process
Authors: Ganguly Kunal K. , Bandyopdhyay Prabir
Published: December 2014

The purpose of this study was to develop and analyze an interpretative structural framework for the Supply Risk Management Process (SRMP). The research questions were focused on understanding the casual factors as well as the link between the SRMP and Supplier Selection (SS) process. The Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) approach was used to develop a structural framework for the SRMP. An extensive literature followed by discussion with managers in different Indian Automobile companies was completed to identify the strategic enablers for the SRMP. Thirteen strategic enablers were identified and classified into four categories. An Indian Automobile manufacturing company was selected as a case study participant to serve as an authentic practice-based example of the model. The SRMP enablers and the SS factors were applied to the case study organization and analyzed. The significance of this study was that the SRMP enablers and SS factors assist managers to set priorities for decision making purposes. This allows supply chain managers to take proactive steps in order to reduce risk and improve the performance of the organization in the early SRMP stages.
Applying Enterprise Risk Management on a Fiber Board Manufacturing Industrial Case
Authors: Hayat Syed Aftab
Published: December 2014

The study assesses the enterprise risk management (ERM) process of a fiber board manufacturing company. The objective is to practically demonstrate how a risk framework can be applied to find the key risks affecting the company. An understanding of the fiber board industry is established by reviewing the proxy disclosures of global corporations to see how they foresee the risks to the industry in general. The current state of the ERM process of the company is then evaluated by applying the COSO 2004 risk assessment framework - the company's ERM process are mapped on a maturity model scale, roles and responsibilities of the board of directors and important risk management concepts are discussed and measured in practice. A risk assessment is undertaken with the help of risk gathering techniques to create a risk profile of the major risks affecting the company which are illustrated through heat maps. Finally, benchmarked studies are used to conduct a gap analysis of the risk findings to conclude that the management has to re-address its focus towards HR -employee motivation, working capital mismanagement, sales-production planning inefficiencies and a less likely but high impacting terrorism risk for which the company is currently not prepared. Recommendations for key risk indicators are suggested along with direction for future work.
Organizational Change Model in a Geometric Framework
Authors: Crossen Dennis M.
Published: December 2014

Geometric strategy is an evolving academic discipline revealing considerable use in practice. It is useful across a broad spectrum of disciplines including those in genetics, advanced technologies, and business. Studies in geometric strategy extend into fields of spatial architectural designs (Pottman, 2009), genetic structures and behavior patterns (Klingenberg, 2001), and global marketing economies (Oestreicher, 2012). It is a mechanism for modeling complex characteristics that may have been conventionally detached from traditional analytic methods and protocols. Zeleny (2010) forwards the notion that strategic practices need to transform from a descriptive archetype to a strategy of reliability with measurable action. What is unique about this discipline is that the delay from research activities to industrial usage has decreased dramatically. This may be due to the fact that patterns and geometries are part of daily living, thereby necessitating acceptance on a different level than for other disciplines. The science of business is equally as complex. Management science is replete with theories on issues of managing human capital, team dynamics, behavioral psychology, relationships amongst groups, as well as many disciplines which drive commerce. Business systems have been developed to provide intuition at all levels of the organization. Bridging geometry and business strategy, although revolutionized several decades ago by McKinsey & Co., has been advancing in academia and practice to meet the ever-evolving demands of the marketplace. In this paper, a series of models are presented which integrate geometric strategies with an assortment of business characteristics within complex institutions. This proposal offers a clear set of visual models that can be adapted for use across a range of organization types. Moreover, because of the intrinsic design of adaptation, the models can be useful in quantitative and qualitative type organizations (Grassl, 2011; Sandelowski, 1995).
Optimal Inventory and Credit Policies under Two Levels of Trade Credit Financing in an Inventory System with Date-Terms Credit Linked Demand
Authors: Aggarwal K.K. , Tyagi Arun Kumar
Published: December 2014

Credit policy through its influence on demand indirectly affects the inventory policy which is designed to meet that demand; therefore inventory policy is interrelated with the credit policy. Consequently, they must be coordinated and should be determined simultaneously in a systems perspective. In this paper, a mathematical model is developed in a discounted cash flow (DCF) framework to jointly determine inventory and credit policies under two levels of trade credit financing in the presence of stimulating as well as disintegrating effect of credit period on demand. The objective of the model is to maximize the present value of firm's net profit per unit time by jointly optimizing the date-terms credit period and replenishment interval. Numerical example and sensitivity analysis are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and results are discussed.
Regional Development Strategy in Insular Space
Authors: Athanasios Papadaskalopoulos , Manolis Christofakis
Published: December 2014

The formulation of a specific regional development strategy for insular areas has attracted strong interest in recent years. Despite efforts so far, no specific strategy for the development of insular space exists. This is the focus point of the present paper, which is based on a survey of policy measures for the Greek insular regions, covering the framework of regional and territorial planning since 2000. The paper tries to search for a particular insular development strategy, with the definition of the sector-based and territorial priorities, the formulation of strategic objectives, and the setting of guidelines for interventions.
Land Allotment Patterns and Urban Features in Post-Second World War Athens
Authors: Marmaras Emmanuel V. , Wallace Athena
Published: December 2014

The paper deals with the formation of the urban space, analyzing the land ownership patterns in relation first to the socio-economic conditions of the owners, second to the applied building regulations, third to the urban features and the road network, and fourth to the housing conditions.A complex co-relation of the above parameters is the outcome of this research work, which illuminates the real conditions created by the specific post-Second World War conditions in the basin of Athens. For the support of this research, special measurements have been undertaken concerning the geometric characteristics of the urban space in a suitable number of sample areas in the above basin, comprising planned areas, as well unplanned squatter areas. This kind of approach aims toward the formation of realistic scenarios in analogous cases, according to the theory of incremental planning suggested by Charles E. Lindblom.
The Demographic Footprint of Economic Development
Authors: Gavalas Vasilis S.
Published: December 2014

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between economic development and the demographics of population for a group of islands in the middle of the Aegean Sea, namely the Cyclades, in the period 1860-2011. This period covers the greatest part of demographic transition, which for the Cyclades started in the mid-nineteenth century. In every stage of the transition, the changes in mortality and fertility levels tended to destabilise the relationship between population and the limited resources of the islands. Migration is the key factor in understanding the demographic regime of these islands. Either negative or positive (emigration or immigration), population mobility has always been and still is the element that regulates natural increase and determines the real increase of the population. Whenever rates of natural increase were too high, emigration acted as a counterbalancing factor by taking population away from the islands, while when rates of natural increase reached very low levels from the 1970s onwards due to low fertility, immigration came as a substitute. Two of the Cyclades islands, namely Paros and Naxos, are used as cases studies for a closer focus on these islands during the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century and especially in the period 1951-2011.
LAKE
Authors: Xu Shaochun , Liu Dapeng
Published: December 2014

Logging has been mainly used as a helpful debugging aid. Very little literature has mentioned using logs for purposes other than debugging. However, one take is that logs may contain a large amount of information which can be used as knowledge bases for multiple and various purposes, including better understanding software execution. To achieve this purpose, specific coding techniques have to be adopted. In this paper, the authors discuss some scenarios in which logs can be used as a window to investigate more details of software execution, list some related Java code, and exhibit some log pieces to demonstrate the usage. They also propose a few ways to manage log files. The idea they suggest here might help improve the software development process.
On Temporal Summation in Chaotic Neural Network with Incremental Learning
Authors: Deguchi Toshinori , Takahashi Toshiki , Ishii Naohiro
Published: December 2014

The incremental learning is a method to compose an associate memory using a chaotic neural network and provides larger capacity than correlative learning in compensation for a large amount of computation. A chaotic neuron has spatiotemporal summation in it and the temporal summation makes the learning stable to input noise. When there is no noise in input, the neuron may not need temporal summation. In this paper, to reduce the computations, a simplified network without temporal summation is introduced and investigated through the computer simulations comparing with the network as in the past, which is called here the usual network. It turns out that the simplified network has the same capacity in comparison with the usual network and can learn faster than the usual one, but that the simplified network loses the learning ability in noisy inputs. To improve this ability, the parameters in the chaotic neural network are adjusted.
Creative Design of Interactive eLearning Activities and Materials (IEAM)
Authors: Abdelaziz Hamdy Ahmed
Published: December 2014

The research objective was to develop a psycho-pedagogical model for designing creative Interactive eLearning Activities and Materials (IEAM). To achieve this purpose, the developmental research methodology was implemented through three main stages: systematic design, systematic development, and evaluation. In the systematic design phase, a list of educational and creative design standards of interactive eLearning activities and materials was developed. In the systematic development phase, the main components of the proposed model were created. The main components (domains) of the proposed model that should be implemented in developing eLearning activities and materials were: Knowledge Domains and Classifications, Pedagogical Techniques and Strategies, eLearning Tools and Media, Pedagogical Standards of Interactive Activities, Creativity Processes, and Mental Knowledge Structure. In the evaluation phase, a mixed approach of Focus Group Interview (FGI) and Case Study was implemented to validate the proposed model on a micro level. The final model was refereed by three full professors specialized in: Curriculum and Instruction, Instructional Technology and eLearning, and Cognitive Psychology. The findings of this study revealed that the proposed model could be a supporting metaphor for creative design of interactive eLearning and distance learning activities and materials. This model is also a starting point for studies, which intend to understand and apply creative design of eLearning activities and materials. It is recommended to have online instructors and e-Courses' instructional designers get trained on implementing this model to increase the quality of designing eLearning courses.
Students' Perceptions of the Utilization of Learning Management System (LMS) Features
Authors: Hariri Mustafa M.
Published: December 2014

Utilization of the LMS in teaching is a very crucial and important issue. It will reflect on the students better learning and understanding of the subject. The current practices of student-centered learning (where students contribute to the subject and get involved in the learning process) can also be applied very effectively through using the LMS. This paper summarizes students' perceptions and point of view of utilizing LMS learning features and how important it is to their study and comprehension of the course subjects. The study was conducted on a geology graduate course (Advanced Structural Geology) taught in Earth Sciences Department, at KFUPM. Several features of the LMS were used, including e-mail, announcement, course content, and online discussion. A survey seeking students' perceptions of the utilization of the LMS in teaching was prepared and the learning measurement was determined through the level of satisfaction of students and how much the experiment added to their learning. The study showed that students are favoring the online discussion and considered it as a very effective tool that helped them in their understanding and comprehension of the course subject. Moreover, other features, such as email, announcement, and grade-book, were also of importance from the students' point of view as they enhance their contact with the instructor and provide them with feedback on their performance.
Understanding the Culture of Young Internet Users in a Rapidly Changing Society
Authors: Lichy Jessica , Kachour Maher
Published: December 2014

The context of this study is Internet user behaviour among young people, at a time when information and communication technologies (ICT) are rapidly transforming how individuals behave in the online environment. The intention is to provide a snapshot of Internet user behaviour, with particular reference to social networking, in order to further our understanding of the various activities pursued by young Internet users in a non-Anglophone perspective. The study uses survey method to gather data on the thoughts, experiences and behaviours of young Internet users in order to explain their online routine activities. The findings reveal the extent to which certain national differences are indeed apparent when using the Internet, suggesting that the widespread adoption of Internet technology has not generated ‘standardised' Internet user behaviour.
The Influence of Social Networks on E-Reputation
Authors: Castellano Sylvaine , Khelladi Insaf , Chipaux Amélie , Kupferminc Célia
Published: December 2014

With the increased importance of the Internet and the use of social media, new opportunities and challenges emerge to manage the relationship with audiences and online communities. While the professional world already acknowledged such dynamics, further analysis is needed in the academic scene. A survey conducted in the sports setting shows that the perception of social networks influences athletes' e-reputation. However, the motives for following athletes online have no influence on their e-reputation. Finally, the results highlight that e-reputation is not affected by negative content on the internet. This research has both academic and managerial contributions regarding online reputation and social media.
Experiences Complementing Classroom Teaching With Distance Seminars in Metaverses and Videos
Authors: Masferrer Javier Ángel Ramírez , Sánchez Felix Escolano , Hernández David Fernández-Ordoñez
Published: December 2014

As a way of reinforcing classroom-based lessons, especially for continuous evaluation, we experimented with remote conferences and tutoring. These seminars were directed at three different groups of students: those who are struggling with the subject, those who were unable to attend all the lessons, and those seeking deeper insight. We experimented with different platforms for computer-assisted learning and with teaching through metaverses (Second Life and Open Sims). We experienced better results with the latter rather than with the platforms specially designed for computer-assisted learning. The metaverse sessions were also used as videos, recording the screen to later become part of the videos used for remote teaching. The sessions were also used to broadcast live conferences to people who were unable to attend them in person. A brief analysis was made of the videos' usefulness for teaching, combined with conferences, seminars through metaverses, etc.
Injuries in Professional Male Soccer Players in the Netherlands: A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Stubbe Janine H. , van Beijsterveldt Anne-Marie M. C. , van der Knaap Sissi , Stege Jasper , Verhagen Evert A. , van Mechelen Willem , Backx Frank J. G.
Published: December 2014

Context:

Injuries are a major adverse event in a soccer player's career. Reducing injury incidence requires a thorough knowledge of the epidemiology of soccer injuries.

Objective:

To investigate the incidence and characteristics of injuries in the Dutch premier soccer league.

Design:

Cohort study.

Setting:

The Dutch premier soccer league.

Patients or Other Participants:

During the 2009–2010 soccer season, a total of 217 professional soccer players from 8 teams were prospectively followed.

Main Outcome Measure(s):

The medical staff recorded time-loss injuries, including information on injuries (ie, type, body part, duration) and exposure data for training sessions and matches.

Results:

A total of 286 injuries were recorded, affecting 62.7% of the players. The overall injury incidence was 6.2 injuries per 1000 player-hours, 2.8 in training sessions and 32.8 in matches. Most of the recorded injuries were acute (68.5%). Eight percent of the injuries were classified as recurrent. Injuries were most likely to be located in the lower extremities (82.9%). Injury time loss ranged from 1 to 752 days, with a median of 8 days. Knee injuries had the greatest consequences in terms of days of absence from soccer play (on average, 45 days). The most common diagnosis was muscle/tendon injury of the lower extremities (32.9%).

Conclusions:

Injury risk in the Dutch premier soccer league is high, especially during matches. Preventive measures should focus on the most common diagnoses, namely, muscle/tendon injuries of the lower extremities.
Cyclical constipation
Authors: Adarsh C. K. , Sheth Keyur A.
Published: December 2014

Intestinal endometriosis is a rare disease. It can have a varied presentation. It is difficult to differentiate it from malignancy by clinical, endoscopic or imaging features. We present a 35-year-old nulliparous married lady, who presented to us with constipation, painful defecation and bled per rectum for last 3 years. She was diagnosed to have endometriosis with gold standard laparoscopy and managed with medical line of therapy.
A modification of rendezvous technique for endoscopically treating transected common bile duct following cholecystectomy
Authors: Sharma Vishal , Prasada K. V. Raghavendra , Rana Surinder S. , Arun A. C. , Lal Anupam , Gupta Rajesh , Bhasin Deepak K.
Published: December 2014

Endoscopic therapy is the standard of care for management of most benign biliary strictures. However, endoscopic therapy can fail in very tight strictures. We report a case of a 52-year-old lady who had complete bile duct transection with stricture after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In initial attempt, at endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), guidewire could not be negotiated endoscopically across the narrowing as there was complete cut off of the bile duct and so a percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) was done and subsequently internalized into the duodenum. We cannulated the internalized end of PTBD catheter with the standard ERCP cannula with guidewire and advanced it across the biliary stricture. PTBD catheter was withdrawn externally, and the guidewire was left in the left ductal system. We report this innovation as this may be helpful in managing patients with ERCP after an initial PTBD has been successfully internalized into the duodenum.