Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Orientation, Marketing Orientation, Knowledge Management and Innovative Performance
Pages 1-10
Asri Laksmi Riani
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analysis of the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, marketing orientation, knowledge management, and innovative performance. The research was conducted in four regions: Surakarta, Sragen, Karanganyar, and Lasem Pati district. Respondents in this study are batik entrepreneurs and artisans in the four areas and already have a business for at least one year. The results showed that the entrepreneurial orientation has a positive and significant impact on the marketing orientation, entrepreneurial orientation has a significant positive effect on knowledge management. Entrepreneurial orientation has a significant positive effect on innovative performance, and marketing orientation but no significant positive effect on performance and innovation knowledge management, and significant positive effect on innovative performance.
Integration in Central Asian Region: Analysis, Problems and Prospects
Pages 11-17
Zhumakhan Myrhalykov, Kulyanda Nurashevа
Abstract
Division of labour, globalization and labour migration in current world make regional integration a natural process. However, in many regions of the world integration faces a number of challenges. For instance, the countries of Central Asia, which include five republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with a total population of over 65 million, for more than 20 years of independence have not achieved the desired results in integration. Although relatively successful today are unions as CIS, EEC and SCO. There are reasons for this: mentioned countries do not recognize themselves as a single region; due to having a similar structure of the economy and lack of technological specialization, these countries are not partners, but competitors. There are also interstate tensions and conflicts (the problem of borders, ethnic enclaves, distribution and management of water resources, trade barriers). Selfishness of the political and business elites is also affecting. They often identify their interests with the national interest and not interested in supranational structures, to which will be handed over some of the functions of planning, management and control. According to the author, the states of Central Asia can be integrated in the following areas: free movement of goods, services, capital, and labour, reconciliation of pricing, monetary, customs and fiscal policy.
State Support for Small and Medium Enterprises in Kazakhstan
Pages 18-22
Baiyan Ermekbayeva, Raigul Doszhan
Abstract
Small and medium enterprises are an important part in the economic development of the country. The formation of small and medium enterprises in the Republic of Kazakhstan since the beginning of economic reforms is one of the priorities of the state economic policy.Kazakhstan improved its position according to “Doing Business” 2013 (Rate of business) by 7 points and ranked 49th and in 2011, Kazakhstan ranked 56th. Now Kazakhstan is among the top ten reformers, who is improving the business environment. If the developed countries’ entrepreneurship formation required several decades, Kazakstan’s economic policies aimed at entrepreneurs elaborated in a short time by a small circle of experts and based mainly on the experience of developed countries. The purpose of the article, is to present the history formation of small and medium enterprises in Kazakhstan and its current state. The article also provides information about governmental programs aimed at the development of business structures, also covers non-governmental organizations and entrepreneurs support associations activities. In general, the article focuses on the experiences of entrepreneurship development in Kazakhstan. The article analyzes the statistical data for the last three years of the state database and related statistics. The article claims, the important principles of small and medium enterprises and government services to reach mutually beneficial work. It’s also indicates importance of creating fair competitive environment for small and medium enterprises by the government. The entrepreneurship development in Kazakhstan at a rapid pace. The government, through various programs and projects of economic policy is actively trying to develop small and medium businesses. Reviewed in the article entrepreneurs development experience in Kazakhstan and policies aimed at the government support can generate interest in other developing countries. For the conference participants can be interesting to compare the advantages and disadvantages of Kazakhstan support practices of small and medium enterprises at an academic level and compare with the experience of other countries.
Study on the Autoregulation Tax System Level in Romania Using Ecm Model and Artificial Neural Network
Pages 23-26
Stelian Stancu, Laura Elly Naghi, Alexandra Maria Constantin, Cristian Bordea
Abstract
In the context of the current troubled, road tax system in Romania, the present study has the following specific objectives: presentation of the current economic context of Romania, present condition of the fiscal system in Romania, presentation of empirical results generated from the survey on self-regulation of tax system, and exposure of the study findings.
Corporate Morality: A Review of the Underlying Views on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Pages 27-37
Misbau Alamu Lateef, Kafayat Quadri
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to basically identify some important and knowledgeable academic and practical works from the past decades upon the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its ethical content. The review will therefore gradually flow from the history of the concept, its definitions, academic and practical view of various writers, including their appraisals and criticisms as well as real live examples where applicable. It is imperative however to state that the methodology of the review is to, firstly, undertake a general over view of a number of literatures on the concept and, secondly, specifically review the classical views of some notable scholars whose views on the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have become recurring reference points across literatures.
Emending Trends in Associative Classification Data Mining
Pages 38-42
Neda Abdelhamid, Aladdin Ayesh, Fadi Thabtah, Wael Hadi
Abstract
Utilising association rule discovery to learn classifiers in data mining is known as Associative Classification (AC). In the last decade, AC algorithms proved to be effective in devising high accurate classification systems from various type of supervised data sets. Yet, there are new emerging trends and that can further enhance the performance of current AC methods or necessitate the development of new methods. This paper sheds the light on four possible new research trends within AC that could enhance the predictive performance of the classifier or the their quality in terms of rules. These possible research directions are considered starting research points for other scholars in rule based classification in data mining.
Track: Engineering and Technology Studies
Enhancement of Organics and Nitrogen Removal of Compact Extended Aeration Reactor (CEAR) by using Attached Growth System
Pages 43-48
Nurul Izma Mohammed, Shamsul Rahman Mohamed Kutty
Abstract
Compact Extended Aeration Reactor (CEAR) is a system that practices the concept of integration of wastewater treatment system. The reactor comprises of aeration tank, anoxic tank and clarifier. One of the challenges of the CEAR system is to improve the treatment system efficiency. Thus, enhancement on the reactor has been made by implementing Attached Growth System (AGS) in addition to the existing suspended growth system. The Aero-Packer and Bio-Balls (a packing medium for attached growth known) has been designed and installed in the aeration tank and anoxic tank, respectively. The reactor has been operated with real biomass obtained from UTP STP aeration tank and been fed with synthetic wastewater made from dog food with flow rate of 15 L/day. The results showed that the removal of ammonia and nitrogen is greater without the AGS installation while the removal rate of total reduction percentage for BOD (77%), COD (85%), and TSS with average MLSS (7556 mg/L) were better with AGS. It concludes that the performance of the reactor in removing organics has been better with the implementation of AGS.
Cadmium Selenide Nanoparticles Synthesis in Polymer Matrices for Solar Cells Application
Pages 49-53
S. Malik, Fatin Hana Naning
Abstract
Cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanoparticles were synthesised directly in regio-regular poly (3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) or P3HT mixed with stearic acid by using Angle Lifting Deposition and gas exposure techniques. The pressure-area isotherm of composite P3HT:SA shows a unique trend combination of long chain conjugated polymer with small molecules of stearic acid. Wider absorption spectra of active layer thin film after hydrogen selenide gas exposure indicated the presence of CdSe nanoparticles embedded in the P3HT:SA matrices. Roughness and resistance of P3HT:SA active layer significantly affected the short circuit current density of the solar cells device.
Evaluation of the Use of Educational Technology at Secondary School Level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan
Pages 54-59
Sajjad Hayat Akhtar, Irfan Ullah
Abstract
The study looked into descriptive research to evaluate the emerging trends and use of Educational Technology at secondary school level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan). It has defined the emerging trends, problems, needs, usefulness and status of educational technology. The main objectives of the study were, to determine the role of educational technology, needs, usefulness, status and emerging trends of educational technology at secondary school level. The following results were drawn by the researcher in the light of the analysis of the data .The focus of varied educational technology revealed that radio and television are not accessible as a medium of instruction in rural as well as urban areas. It was found that the teachers do not make effective use of educational technology in rural areas. It was observed that the educational technology is not available for technical subject both in rural as well as urban areas. Beside, computer mediated communication is not used for counselling and science subjects both urban as well rural areas.
Multi-Tier Point to Multi Point WMNs: A Layer 2 Performance Analysis
Pages 60-65
Nazdiana Ab Wahab, Muhammad Ghazie Ismail
Abstract
In wireless mesh environments, path between station and the gateway consists of multiple wireless links. As the number of hop count increases, MAC protocols experience significant throughput reduction. On the other hands, due to the diverse requirements and many different scenarios of WMNs, Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (HWMP) has been specified in 802.11s for more efficient routing protocol. This paper aims to evaluate 802.11 MAC layer performances over a multi-hop wireless mesh networks as well as the network performance behavior with HWMP integration in 802.11s. In addition, a multi-tier Point to Multi Point (PMP) WMN architecture with clustering algorithm has been proposed and is seen as a promising solution in order to provide QoS in WMNs.
Concrete Cracks Repair Using Epoxy Resin
Pages 66-78
Renga Rao Krishnamoorthy, Sharifah Nadhrah Syed Tajul Arif
Abstract
Epoxy repair methods for concrete are becoming widely popular in Malaysia. The current assessment for repair is not accurate and lack of accumulative research data. Moreover, most of the repair methods for concrete is done based on deemed-to-satisfy method based on readily available proprietary repair systems. The research work presented provides additional information on the assessment and repair of cracks for concrete from various water cement ratios. Upon 28 days of curing, the cubes undergoes the compression test, however, the compression test will be timed and monitored only until obvious cracks appears from the author’s naked eyes. At this juncture the Ultimate Testing Machine’s (UTM) power will be killed immediately and the sample removed thereafter. The samples will be repaired by applying epoxy at cracks and will be left for drying at ambient temperature in the laboratory. The repaired sample will be once again tested under compression using UTM, however, at this point the sample will be tested until failure and the strength recorded. The outcome suggests that the repair method using epoxy was able to sustain at least 80% to 85% of total strength achieved when cracks appeared during testing. It was concluded that the higher the water cement ratio, the higher the recorded strength was after repair.
Pressure Monitoring for Furnace Air System Using PLC & SCADA
Pages 79-87
Gowrishankar Kasilingam, Ms.Mritha Ramalingam, Ms.R.Puviarasi
Abstract
This paper presents the importance of maintaining constant pressure in furnace air system of Bio-mass power plant. Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition System (SCADA are used to control and monitor the pressure in furnace air system. This automation technique makes the inputs to the boiler suitable enough towards efficient functioning and also for maintaining required temperature in the boiler. To maintain constant pressure adaptive control theory used for optimization and decides the percentage of opening and closing of damper control valve using PLC. The simulation data using visual c++ confirms the system’s rationality, stability and superiority. SCADA is an important application that allows a utility operator to monitor and control the air pressure of furnace air system and temperature of the boiler from the remote site. This work uses PLC of ALLEN BRADLEY MICROLOGIX 1200 inbuilt with 24 digital inputs and provides 16 potential free outputs to control the miniaturized process. The automation is further enhanced by constant monitoring using SCADA screen, which is connected to the PLC by through a communication cable. The experimental results reveal that the proposed control system using PLC – SCADA is efficient for system automation.
Effect of the Addition of Soy Milk on the Physical and Rheological Properties of Ice Cream
Pages 88-96
Fatemeh Aboulfazli, A.S. Baba, Misni Misran
Abstract
The nutritional roles of ice cream can be improved by substituting cow’s milk with soy milk. To study this, cow’s milk was replaced by soy and their composite milks in order to produce ice cream. The changes in ice cream eating qualities and physical properties were evaluated. The addition of soy milk increased pH, viscosity and particle size of ice creams and decreased the hysteresis degree and total acceptability of them. The highest viscosity and melting resistance and lowest of total acceptability were found in S sample. The addition of soy milk in ice cream developed physical, rheological and chemical properties of ice creams.
A Survey of Wireless Electrocardiogram Monitoring System
Pages 97-105
Tan Yong Sing, Mohammad Shyrrel , Shagilan, K.Gowrishankar, MrithaRamalingam
Abstract
Electrocardiography (ECG) is a widely accepted approach for monitoring of cardiac activity and clinical diagnosis of heart disease. Nevertheless, the accurate ECG interpretation is essentially required in order to evaluate the valuable information inside the ECG signal. The conventional technique of visual analysis to inspect the ECG signals by doctors or physicians are not effective and time consuming. This paper outlines the integration of wireless communication in medical applications for home healthcare. A wireless system that provides the possibility of ECG signal transmission from a patient detection circuit via an RF data link. This portable ECG will monitor the patients with 3 leads which will adequate to record the bioelectric potential given off by the heart that reach the surface of the skin. Then an electronic circuit will amplifies this data signals and filter it to enhance the signal/noise ratio. This information will be saved in a database and the signal is then sent through wireless communication to a monitoring system, where the data is to be analyzed by the doctor. The amplified and filtered ECG signal is sampled 360 times per second, and the A/D conversion is performed by a PIC16F877 microcontroller. The major contribution of the final proposed system is that it detects processes and sends patients ECG data over a wireless RF link to a maximum distance of 200 m. Transmitted ECG data with different numbers of samples were received, decoded by means of another PIC microcontroller.
Track: Social Sciences and Humanities
Floating Markets: Balancing the Needs of Visitors as a Tourist Attraction and Locals Way of Life. A Case Study of Talingchan Floating Market, Bangkok Thailand
Pages 106-118
SeyyedFarzad Motevalli-Haghi, Javad Rafinejad, Mahboobeh Hosseni, Jamshid Yazdani-Charati and Behzad Parsi
Abstract
A floating market in Bangkok and its vicinity in the Thai Central plains is usually packed as a tourism product that offers visitors an opportunity to experience local ways of life as in the past. An interview and observation were carried out on September 29, 2012 to get the opinion of international, local visitors and local vendors about Talingchan Floating Market. The Talingchan floating market attracts the locals, families, students and international visitors. Results based on observation and analyses of interviews indicate that Talingchan floating market is an authentic canal-side community market, not a thematic floating market village. The results generated a snapshot of both visitors and community sentiments with understanding of the triple bottom line effects of tourism on Talingchan floating market. There is a clear demonstration of the linkage between tourism and canal side community that has played important role in reducing poverty in the area and dispersion of tourism earnings to local community. The researcher sees the market’s potential to develop further provided fresh challenges are adequately addressed without damaging culture and environment by making necessary changes to present it as an attractive tourist attraction and to ensure its future sustainability.
Effective Integration of Wiki for Collaborative Learning in Higher Education Context
Pages 119-121
Farrah Dina Yusop, Siti Mariam & Muhammad Abdul Basar
Abstract
Wiki is an asynchronous online collaborative tool which can be adapted for teaching and learning purposes. This study attempts to explore and develop a further understanding of the factors influencing students’ participation and commitments in collaborating using Wiki in higher education context. Apart from that, the usage of Wiki to support class instruction will also be evaluated. Findings from online Wiki observations were found to be positive in terms of students’ participation in their Wiki pages. Students’ perceptions towards Wiki for teaching and learning purposes were also found to be positive.
Review of the Studies on Adult Intimate Relationship
Pages 122-126
Haslee Sharil Lim Abdullah, Maryam Nakhostin Maher, Nastaran Alsadat Hosseini, Farnaz Salahi
Abstract
This article, reviews empirical studies on adult intimate relationship, and identify gaps in the literature where further research is needed. The aim of this article is to present the most decisive findings available on the subject of adult intimate relationship. It was highlighted attitudes toward adult intimate relationship; attachment styles, childhood abuse; psychological adjustment; parental divorce and their relationship to adult intimate relationship. The existing body of knowledge relating to these groups of studies will be summarized in this paper. At the end, the significant gap in adult intimate relationship studies was highlighted for further studies.
Scaling Up Conservation Agriculture in Pakistan: A Perspective to Mitigate Climate Change
Pages 127-132
Muhammad Iftikhar, Saleem Ashraf, Ghazanfar Ali Khan and Babar Shahbaz
Abstract
Climate change has become a severe threat to the development and communities around the globe are already experiencing the sudden impacts. It is also being assumed that climate change will have significant negative impacts on agricultural productivity of developing nations of Asia in forthcoming years. Pakistan is one of the Asian countries’ most vulnerable to climate change. Country is already experiencing worst issues like poverty and food security posing serious threats to development and climate change is ahead of all these. In this respect, declining agricultural productivity, extended water scarcity and declining income growth due to climate change will further intensify the existing obstacles into national economy decline and increased food insecurity. Moreover, agriculture in Pakistan also have tremendous role in climate change increase because of extended mechanization and exploitation of resources specially soil and water. In this respect present study was conducted in southern Punjab, Pakistan. Southern Punjab is famous for cotton productivity and cotton is also assumed as risky crop as well. In this respect 80 cotton growers were interviewed as respondents to explore the climate change awareness and farmers mitigation strategies. Findings of the study indicated that farmers’ awareness regarding climate change was very poor they were just having knowledge on behalf of their farming experience. Moreover, role of information sources including public and private sector, electronic media and ICT’s was very poor. It was seen that farmers were destroying soil again and again through extensive mechanical manipulation forgetting the capability of land. Further these farmers seems unaware of the fact that resources are always limited but they have their alternates resultantly these rural farmers are on traditional approach. Farmers were having awareness about climate change impacts on cotton crop of medium level (Average mean value: 2.12). Varied response was seen regarding causes of climate change. In addition, adaptations of mitigation strategies such as conservation agriculture, cover cropping, migration to less weather prone area and usage of weather resistant varieties were almost negligible. Conservation agriculture could be the most viable strategy s farmers have to utilize their existing resources in judicious ways. It is suggested on the basis of findings that role of extension field staff should be diversified. Farmers need capacity building regarding conservation agriculture. Moreover, it is dire need to popularize climate change and its adaptation through effective media campaign.
Initial Conceptual Model of Knowledge-Based Social Innovation
Pages 133-139
Hendrati Dwi Mulyaningsih, Gatot Yudoko, Bambang Rudito
Abstract
Social entrepreneurship has been defined in focusing their activities in the dual contrary things. Its activities have intended to the social mission and profit orientation, but the foremost activity is in social mission whereas it conscious about social benefit and not in profit motive. Social enterprise, in running their business, has to deal with this dual motive that is focused on the social consciousness intensely. As the advanced non-profit organization, social enterprise should construct their goal in creating the value to the community and also to achieve their sustainabilty by innovation. Social innovation is the basis for the social entreprises in doing their social mission and it requires stages beginning with seeking an opportunity to provide solutions for the social problems from the internal and external sources of information and knowledge. They should manage their knowledge as their main source of innovation and afterward it will be impacted to their main objectives in creating social value. This research integrate construct from the theories of entrepreneurship, Innovation and Knowledge Management. The relation of the three main theories will be proposed in the Knowledge based Social Innovation model. In the social innovation perspective, all the process of its innovation is all about knowledge creation and usage. Therefore knowledge sharing and creation become primary in the social innovation process.
A Systematic Evaluation of Security Awareness Programs for Combating Identity Theft: A Conceptual Framework
Pages 140-144
Noor Hayani Abd Rahim, Miss Laiha Mat Kiah
Abstract
The evolvement of Internet technology has benefited many individuals and organizations. However, the technology has also caused the issue of identity theft to worsen, making it a vital issue to society today. The trend in US since 2000 has listed identity theft as the most highly reported cases every year. The increasing trend also reported in Malaysia. The personal information of an individual needs to be protected because it is confidential and to avoid the person’s credentials from being illegally used. To prevent the problem of identity theft, there are many security awareness sessions that have been conducted as an effort to educate and instill security culture among Internet users. However, the sessions fail to educate the Internet users effectively and are unable to convince Internet users to be concerned about protecting their personal information in the online environment. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate and improve current security awareness programs in order to effectively combat the problem of identity theft. This paper proposes and discusses the conceptual framework that will be used to achieve the research objectives. The framework is developed based on the Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) Evaluation Model, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This study only employs quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Surveys, interviews and observations will be used as the research instrument. The output of this research is important as the improvement of security awareness program will help to ensure that the problem of identity theft in society today does not become worse.
The Refined Role of a Judge in Criminal Trials: ‘Adquisitorial’
Pages 145-154
Kafayat Quadri
Abstract
In the world of criminal law, legal practitioners and legal researchers have been looking into the possibility of mixing different legal systems in order to dispense justice in criminal trials. This development became more apparent when the Assembly of States came together to negotiate the provisions of what is now the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The procedure of the ICC thereafter exhibits the traits of the Common Law System or Adversarial System and the Civil Law System or Inquisitorial System in a mixed mode. This paper will look into the origins of these two systems and how the International Criminal Court and South Africa has incorporated the concept of ‘Adquisitorial’ into their court procedures. References will also be made to the Malaysian, Nigerian and French criminal justice systems and relevant case law in order to properly outline the features of the two systems of inquisitorial and adversarial devoid of the conscious practice of the Adquisitorial model.
Track: Physical Life and Applied Sciences
Politics of Partition-Migration and the Economic Instability of the East Bengal Hindu Migrants: Evidence from the Fieldwork
Pages 155-159
Golam Sarwar Khan
Abstract
Because of the communal riots and the political partition-migration during 1946-1947, an estimated 3 million uprooted East Bengal (EB) Hindus sought refuge to West Bengal (WB), a province of India. These Bengali-speaking EB Hindus were bound to leave their homeland and eventually settled as migrants in a majority Bengali-speaking Hindus of WB. Both because of linguistic affinities and religious commonalities, the EB Hindus were intending to relocate in and around Kolkata (a primate city of WB, formerly known as one the British Presidency cities). They thought it would be convenient for them to relocate, but the negative attitudes of the WB Hindus towards EB Hindus muted their plan to a great extent. Such non-cooperation by WB Hindus was due to economic reason as evident from the field investigation. As a consequence of huge EB refugee rehabilitation efforts, the economic vulnerability in essence, indicated a kind of neo-communal contra-relations that developed between the EB and WB Hindus. It was like Bengali Hindu-Hindu conflict for economic security. This state of supposedly unstable as well as uncertain economic conditions would scarcely enhance viable mode of sustainability.
Dynamic Data Storage Publishing and Forwarding in Cloud Using Fusion Security Algorithms
Pages 160-169
Srinivasulu Asadi, Ch.D.V.Subba Rao, Bhudevi A
Abstract
Cloud Computing is a concept that treats the resources on the Internet as a unified Entity Cloud. It focuses on designing a cloud storage system for robustness, confidentiality and functionality. One way to provide Data robustness is to replicate a message such that each server stores copy of message. It is very robust because the message can be retrieved as long as one storage server survives. As high-speed networks and ubiquitous Internet access become available in recent years, many services are provided on the Internet such that users can use them from anywhere at any time. For example, the email service is probably the most popular one. Cloud computing is a concept that treats the resources on the Internet as a unified entity, a cloud. Users just use services without being concerned about how computation is done and storage is managed. A cloud storage system is considered as a large scale distributed storage system that consists of many independent storage servers. Moving data into the cloud offers great convenience to users since they don’t have to care about the complexities of direct hardware management. The pioneer of Cloud Computing vendors, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) are both well known examples. While these internet-based online services do provide huge amounts of storage space and customizable computing resources, this computing platform shift, however, is eliminating the responsibility of local machines for data maintenance at the same time. As a result, users are at the mercy of their cloud service providers for the availability and integrity of their data. Recent downtime of Amazon’s S3 is such an example. From the perspective of data security, which has always been an important aspect of quality of service, Cloud Computing inevitably poses new challenging security threats for number of reasons.
The Mean Hearing Threshold Levels Among Employees on Adopting Different Permissible Exposure Limits
Pages 170-179
Balachandar S. Sayapathi, Anselm Ting Su, David KOH
Abstract
The progression to noise-induced hearing loss depends on a few factors such as frequency, intensity and duration. Countries such as USA and Malaysia, have adopted 90 dBA as the permissible exposure limit. The aim of this study was to explore mean hearing threshold levels over six months where the permissible exposure limits were 85 and 90 dBA. Materials and Methods: In this intervention study, 203 participants from two factories in the automobile industry were exposed to noise levels above the action level of 85 dBA in one factory and 80 dBA in the other factory, where permissible exposure limits were 90 and 85 dBA respectively. The sample size required was 52 in each factory. Noise level was measured using personal exposure noise dosimeter and sound level meter. Data on hearing threshold levels were measured using manual audiometer. Hearing protection devices with appropriate noise reduction rate were used to reduce noise exposure among participants. Results: Post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni adjustment revealed that the mean hearing threshold level on the right ear of participants at 3000 and 4000 Hz was statistically significantly lower in Factory 2 with exposure limit at 85 dBA compared to Factory 1 at 90 dBA, [3.17 (95% CI, 0.04 to 6.30) dBA, p = 0.048, partial η2 = 0.045] and [4.45 (95% CI, 0.05 to 8.84) dBA, p = 0.047, partial η2 = 0.045] respectively. Hence, adopting different permissible exposure limits showed an effect on hearing threshold level at 3000 and 4000 Hz.
This study concludes that mean hearing threshold levels at the two frequencies were higher among employees where 90 dBA is adopted compared with 85 dBA. Countries adopting 90 dBA as the permissible exposure limit should review their policy as a limit adoption of 85 dBA may lower the risk of noise-induced hearing loss.
Lithium Concentrations in the Mangrove Snail Nerita Lineata and Surface Sediments Collected Peninsular Malaysia
Pages 180-184
Chee Kong, YAP, Wan Hee, CHENG
Abstract
Sampling for the mangrove snails, Nerita lineata, and surface sediments was carried out from nine geographical sites of Peninsular Malaysia in April 2011. The Lithium (Li) concentrations were determined in the shells, opercula and soft tissues of the N. lineata and in the surface sediments by using ICPMS. The ranges of Li concentrations (µg/g dry weight) were: 0.107-0.283 for shells, 0.021-0.177 for opercula and 0.011-0.634 for total soft tissues of N. lineata. For sediments, Li ranges were found as between 21.84- 146.22 µg/g dry weight). The distribution of Li was found to be: sediment> soft tissues > shells> opercula. The sediment data in the present study were comparable with Li contaminated sediments previously reported in the literature and higher than continental crust materials and igneous rocks. There were no significant correlation (P>0.05) for the Li levels between the sediments and the snails (shells, opercula and soft tissues) and this indicated that Li is an essential metal for metabolism and thus being regulated from the body the snails.
Simulation Car Following in Urban Area as Stochastic Process Using Multi Agent System
Pages 185-193
Mounir Gouiouez, Noureddine Rais, Mostafa Azzouzi Idrissi
Abstract
In this paper we present a new model for microscopic traffic simulation, which integrates some real-life factors that need to be considered, such as the effect of random distribution in the entry of lane. Our architecture is based on the combination of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and a stochastic model to capture the randomness of individual agent. A second contribution is about the car following models internal structure of mobile agents, which are able to react according to the real situation of the network. The obtained results illustrate that using the randomness in the reaction of agents enhance greatly the performance of simulation.
Biochemical Evaluation of Duckweed (Lemna Minor) in Calabar
Pages 194-197
Ayuk, A. A., Anya, M.I., Okon, B.I. & Accra, V.A.
Abstract
A twenty – day growth trial was conducted to evaluate the growth performance and proximate composition of duckweed (Lemna minor) grown in a concrete pond (33,975.43 litres) with dilution of 25% piggery effluent. Observation revealed that biomass increase occurred every day. Harvesting was carried out every four days for five times successfully and total yield was 14.6kg. The grown duckweed harvested and that obtained from a natural pond were sundried and representative samples taken for proximate analysis. The proximate composition of the two samples was compared. The results obtained showed that the crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract, ash and nitrogen free extract fractions of the grown duckweed contained 42.0%, 28%, 1.5%, 8.0% and 10.5% respectively. While that of the natural pond contained 21.87% crude protein, 20.0% crude fibre, 1.0% ether extract, 11.0% ash and 46.13% nitrogen free extract. The proximate composition of the cultured duckweed appeared higher in all fractions beside the nitrogen free extract. However, irrespective of the medium where the duckweed was harvested, the protein contents obtained suggest that duckweed can be incorporated into livestock feed as a protein supplement, particularly when grown on a nutrient rich medium.
