Digital Commons Network^™

Use Of A Weighted Matching Algorithm To Sequence Clusters In Spatial Join Processing, Husen Husen

Theses : Honours

One of the most expensive operations in a spatial database is spatial join processing. This study focuses on how to improve the performance of such processing. The main objective is to reduce the Input/Output (I/O) cost of the spatial join process by using a technique called cluster-scheduling. Generally, the spatial join is processed in two steps, namely filtering and refinement. The cluster-scheduling technique is performed after the filtering step and before the refinement step and is part of the housekeeping phase. The key point of this technique is to realise order wherein two consecutive clusters in the sequence have maximal …

Bob Brookmeyer: Composer, Performer, Pedagogue, Mace Francis

Theses : Honours

Before my California stay (1968-1978) I considered myself a player first and a writer second, although I did a lot of writing, from Ray Charles to Thad [Jones] and Mel [Lewis].1 Since 1979 I have come to view myself as a composer who also plays trombone; add conducting and teaching and that gives me 4 hats to wear. I do not have a swollen head, so they all fit nicely. (Brookmeyer, 1997, n.p.)

Although acknowledged as one of the pivotal figures in twentieth-century jazz, the career and the music of Bob Brookmeyer has received scant attention in secondary literature. This …

Neck Loading In High Performance Combat Pilots During Aerial Combat Manoeuvres And Specific Neck Strengthening Exercises, Kevin J. Netto

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Neck pain and injury is a common occurrence in high performance combat pilots (HPCP) around the world. The cause of this has been attributed to exposure to the unavoidable high mechanical loading related to the neck being positioned in non-neutral head postures whilst being exposed to moderate to high +Gz levels. Specific neck conditioning exercises have been proposed as being a possible method to decrease the incidence of neck pain and injury in this population. However, there has been sparsely published research examining the suitability of selected exercises for HPCP who participate in regular aerial combat manoeuvres (ACM).

Critical Literacy In A Global Context: Reading Harry Potter, Jill Reading

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Millions of adolescents across the globe eagerly await and read each new Harry Potter fictional novel. As a series, the novels can be assumed to participate influentially in the production of adolescent literacies and subjectivities. Situated in politically conservative times, however, the texts may support readings in simple accord with culturally pervasive conservative views which favour conventionally masculinist, martial views of the individual and of society. Such readings potentially confirm ancient prejudices built out of differences which themselves may be associated with the socio-cultural reproduction of violent conflicts. Nevertheless, contemporary conditions such as planetary climate change and globalised political fear …

The Role Of Metacognitive Strategies In Promoting Learning English As A Foreign Language Independently, Chayada Danuwong

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

One of the challenges facing universities in Thailand is that of equipping graduates with the capacity for independent analytical thinking and learning which will enable them to operate in a global context while also contributing constructively to the changing needs of the local scene. The ability to think analytically and to learn independently calls for learners to be purposeful, strategic, and persistent in learning as well as to have more adaptive cognitive processes and the willingness to take charge of their learning. This is the role of metacognition in learning autonomy across domains. This thesis reports on research which has …

Using Cognitive Mapping Techniques To Supplement Uml And Up In Information Requirements Determination, Keng Siau, Tan Xin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Information requirements determination is a critical task in system development projects. Many human issues may hinder the efforts to accurately capture and clearly understand users' information requirements. In this paper, we review the cognitive underpinnings of some human issues, which are discussed in existing literature and relevant to information requirements determination. We then propose the use of cognitive mapping techniques in the process of information requirements determination. Three widely used cognitive mapping techniques - causal mapping, semantic mapping, and concept mapping – are briefly introduced in this article. A case is used to illustrate how to use these cognitive mapping …

E-Healthcare In Abc County Health Department (Abcchd): Trade-Offs Analysis And Evaluation, Keng Siau, Hwee-Joo Kam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The issue of privacy stirred a tumultuous uproar when the ABC County Health Department (ABCCHD) was planning for an e-Healthcare system that utilized information technology to streamline the administration process of patients. ABCCHD had hired a software vendor, Info-Health, a company that specialized in information system development for the healthcare industry to help in the project. The privacy of patients with Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Human Immunity System was a thorny issue in the implementation of the e-Healthcare system. A trade-off between privacy and cost was discussed and debated. Three alternatives, with varying degrees of privacy and cost, were considered.

Systems Analysis & Design: An Essential Part Of Is Education, Albert L. Harris, Michael Lang, Briony J. Oates, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Systems analysis and design has been as critical building block in Information Systems (IS) education since the inception of the IS major. Whether it is taught using the traditional or "structured approach or the object-oriented approach, it exposes students to the different methods, tools, and techniques used in developing new systems, develops students analytical and problem-solving skills, teaches fact-finding and data gathering techniques, and provides teamwork skills. All of these are valuable skills for systems analysts. This paper introduces the reader of this special issue on systems analysis and design education to the issue, discusses the two approaches to teaching …

Dividing Hedging And Gambling: Legal Implications Of Derivative Instruments, Christopher C. H. Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The past three decades have seen the emergence in themarket of many different types of “derivativeinstruments”, ranging from futures, forwards, options,and swaps1 to some other hybrid instruments2 orsynthetic transactions3 . Along with insurance,derivative instruments help market participants notonly to hedge various types of risks but also to engagein market speculation. A derivative transaction couldserve the purpose of avoiding large losses (i.e. hedging)as well as earning a windfall (i.e. speculation). As such,one question arises: Is there any difference betweengambling and derivative trading?

A Survey On Networking Games In Telecommunications, E. Altman, T. Boulogne, R. El-Azouzi, T. Jiménez, Laura Wynter

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this survey, we summarize different modeling and solution concepts of networking games, as well as a number of different applications in telecommunications that make use of or can make use of networking games. We identify some of the mathematical challenges and methodologies that are involved in these problems. We include here work that has relevance to networking games in telecommunications from other areas, in particular from transportation planning.

Advances In Data Modeling Research, G. Allen, A. Bajaj, V. Khatri, S. Ram, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we summarize the discussions of the panel on "Advances in Data Modeling Research," held at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) in 2005. We focus on four primary areas where data modeling research offers rich opportunities: spatio-temporal semantics, genome research, ontological analysis and empirical evaluation of existing models. We highlight past work in each area and also discuss open questions, with a view to promoting future research in the overall data modeling area.

Grid-Partition Index: A Hybrid Approach To Nearest-Neighbor Queries In Wireless Location-Based Services, Baihua Zheng, Jianliang Xu, Wang-Chien Lee, Dik Lun Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Traditional nearest-neighbor (NN) search is based on two basic indexing approaches: object-based indexing and solution-based indexing. The former is constructed based on the locations of data objects: using some distance heuristics on object locations. The latter is built on a precomputed solution space. Thus, NN queries can be reduced to and processed as simple point queries in this solution space. Both approaches exhibit some disadvantages, especially when employed for wireless data broadcast in mobile computing environments. In this paper, we introduce a new index method, called the grid-partition index, to support NN search in both ondemand access and periodic broadcast …

Towards Better Quality Specification Miners, David Lo, Siau-Cheng Khoo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Softwares are often built without specification. Tools to automatically extract specification from software are needed and many techniques have been proposed. One type of these specifications – temporal API specification – is often specified in the form of automaton (i.e., FSA/PFSA). There have been many work on mining software temporal specification using dynamic analysis techniques; i.e., analysis of software program traces. Unfortunately, the issues of scalability, robustness and accuracy of these techniques have not been comprehensively addressed. In this paper, we describe a framework that enables assessments of the performance of a specification miner in generating temporal specification of software …

In-Network Join Processing For Sensor Networks, Hai Yu, Ee Peng Lim, Jun Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recent advances in hardware and wireless technologies have led to sensor networks consisting of large number of sensors capable of gathering and processing data collectively. Query processing on these sensor networks has to consider various inherent constraints. While simple queries such as select and aggregate queries in wireless sensor networks have been addressed in the literature, the processing of join queries in sensor networks remains to be investigated. In this paper, we present a synopsis join strategy for evaluating join queries in sensor networks with communication efficiency. In this strategy, instead of directly joining two relations distributed in a sensor …

An Investigation Of Physics Instructors' Beliefs And Students' Beliefs, Goals And Motivation For Studying Physics In Thai Rajabhat Universities, Anusak Hongsa-Ngiam

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Students' interest in physics seems to be decreasing at all levels of education in most countries including Thailand. This problem is likely to be influenced by physics teaching and learning processes. Instructors' beliefs influence teaching strategies whereas students' beliefs, goals and motivation influence learning strategies. The investigation of factors influencing teaching and learning will provide useful information for improving the teaching and learning of physics. This research aims to explore physics instructors' beliefs about teaching and learning physics, students' beliefs, goals and motivation for studying physics in Thai Rajabhat universities. A questionnaire was administered to instructors who teach introductory physics …

The Lived Experience Of God And Its Evolution In Children And Adolescents, Anne P. Devenish

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Children's and adolescents' spirituality is important, especially to those entrusted with their education. To effectively nurture children's spirituality, parents, teachers, and ministers would benefit in knowing how young people experience God, what they think about God and how they relate to God: in effect, their lived experience of God. Learning about these phenomena could help greatly in communicating with children and adolescents about God. This study aims to build on the work of those who have investigated elements of the spirituality of children and adolescents in a qualitative way.

Methods For The Estimation Of Missing Values In Time Series, David S. Fung

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Time Series is a sequential set of data measured over time. Examples of time series arise in a variety of areas, ranging from engineering to economics. The analysis of time series data constitutes an important area of statistics. Since, the data are records taken through time, missing observations in time series data are very common. This occurs because an observation may not be made at a particular time owing to faulty equipment, lost records, or a mistake, which cannot be rectified until later. When one or more observations are missing it may be necessary to estimate the model and also …

Sources Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus In Stormwater Drainage From Established Residential Areas And Options For Improved Management, Surasithe Khwanboonbumpen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

From early April 2002 to June 2003, a study was conducted at Wanneroo and Bannister Creek in Perth's metropolitan area (Western Australia), aiming to quantify major sources of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) entering urban residential catchments on two of the major dunal systems. The export of N and P from these catchments in stormwater discharge was measured, allowing investigation of some of the key pathways through which N and P enter the drainage network from the catchment. This information was then used to recommend catchment management approaches to reduce nutrient discharge into stormwater.

The Sustainment Of Early Childhood Teachers In The Classroom, Pamela A. Kilgallon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The changing nature of teaching has led to an increased focus on the retention and productive engagement of teachers in the classrooms. The ongoing implementation of educational change, accompanied by an ageing trend amongst teachers and rising incidences of teacher attrition, stress and burnout, highlights the importance of teachers being sustained in their profession. Furthermore, recognition of the value of early childhood education has drawn attention to early childhood teachers' abilities to be sustained in their teaching practice, effectively engaging students in the learning process. Acknowledging these issues, this study examined factors that influence early childhood classroom teachers' sustainment in …

Soil Community Structure And Litter Decomposition Under Irrigated Eucalyptus Globulus In South Western Australia, Derek J. Swarts

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Plantations provide a range of benefits, including the potential to ameliorate salinity and soil erosion, enhance biodiversity, and provide timber and wood chips. They are increasingly important because of their role in carbon sequestration (Adolphson, 2000; Anonymous, 2005; Jones et al. , 2005; Kozlowski, 2002; Paul and Polglase, 2004). Recent research has highlighted the connection between plantation health and soil fertility (Johnston and Crossley Jr, 2002). Within an Australian context there is little published data on the composition of the soil and litter fauna and their contribution to litter decomposition under plantation systems (Adolphson, 2000). The Albany Effluent Irrigated Tree …

A Class Of Nonlinear Stochastic Volatility Models, Jun Yu, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper proposes a class of nonlinear stochastic volatility models based on the Box-Cox transformation which offers an alternative to the one introduced in Andersen (1994). The proposed class encompasses many parametric stochastic volatility models that have appeared in the literature, including the well known lognormal stochastic volatility model, and has an advantage in the ease with which different specifications on stochastic volatility can be tested. In addition, the functional form of transformation which induces marginal normality of volatility is obtained as a byproduct of this general way of modeling stochastic volatility. The efficient method of moments approach is used …

L S Penrose's Limit Theorem: Tests By Simulation, Pao Li Chang, Vincent Chua, Moshe Machover

Research Collection School Of Economics

L S Penrose's Limit Theorem-which is implicit in Penrose (1952, p. 72) [Penrose, 1952. On the Objective Study of Crowd Behavior. H. K. Lewis and Co, London, p. 72] and for which he gave no rigorous proof-says that, in simple weighted voting games, if the number of voters increases indefinitely and the relative quota is pegged, then-under certain conditions-the ratio between the voting powers of any two voters converges to the ratio between their weights. Lindner and Machover (2004) [Lindner I., Machover M. 2004. L.S. Penrose's limit theorem: proof of some special cases. Mathematical Social Sciences 47, 37-49] prove some …

Realized Variance And Market Microstructure Noise - Comment, Peter C. B. Phillips, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

Semi-Parametric Inference In A Bivariate (Multivariate) Mixture Model, Denis H. Y. Leung, Jing Qin

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider estimation in a bivariate mixture model in which the component distributions can be decomposed into identical distributions. Previous approaches to estimation involve parametrizing the distributions. In this paper, we use a semi-parametric approach. The method is based on the exponential tilt model of Anderson (1979), where the log ratio of probability (density) functions from the bivariate components is linear in the observations. The proposed model does not require training samples, i.e., data with confirmed component membership. We show that in bivariate mixture models, parameters are identifiable. This is in contrast to previous works, where parameters are identifiable if …

Coalition Formation Theories Revisited: An Empirical Investigation Of Aumann's Hypothesis, Vincent Chua, Dan S. Felsenthal

Research Collection School Of Economics

In one of the earliest attempts to examine the effect of a priori voting power on actual political phenomena, Riker (1959) looked at changes in party affiliation in the French National Assembly in 1953–54, and used these data to test the hypothesis that deputies who switched parties were seeking thereby to increase their a priori voting power. His findings were negative, or at best inconclusive.

Commune-Level Estimation Of Poverty Measure And Its Application In Cambodia, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

Cambodia is still suffering from the legacy of civil conflict after more than a decade. With over one-third of the population living below the poverty line, poverty remains one of the most serious problems in Cambodia. A number of governmental bodies, local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international organizations operating in Cambodia have made eradicating poverty a priority and have established many social programmes to this end. In designing such programmes, the efficient allocation of resources is essential for making poverty alleviation more cost-effective. Targeting is often helpful for this purpose because one can avoid wasting resources on the …

Synthesis Of Some Pyridinone Nucleoside Analogues As Antitumor Agents, Shaikha Saif Saeed Alneyadi

Theses

Abstract

3-Deazapyrimidine nucleosides have been shown to exhibit great potential as pro drug for use in medicine especially as antagonists to cancer tumors and the HIV-virus. Recent research has focused on the design, synthesis and characterization of novel nucleoside analogues.

Fluoropyridinone and their corresponding nucleoside derivatives have been synthesized and characterized to induce the activity against tumors. 4, 6-diaryl-3-cyano-2(1H)-pyridinones (82a-i) and their nucleosides were prepared. A trifluoromethyl group was introduced into the pyridinone ring system to study its effect on different tumor cells. The glycoside analogues (83a-e, 85a-e, 87a-e and 88a-d) have been synthesized …

Development Of Electroanalytical Methods For The Determination Of Sialic Acid As A Biomarker For Cancer, Khawla Ali Rashid Al-Tayyari

Theses

Sialic acid (SA) is a general term for a family composed of 43 derivatives of neuraminic acid. Whereas N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) is the most commonly occurring sialic acid in human. There has been a great interest in the determination of SA in humans because variations in SA level was linked to different medical conditions and diseases. In particular, serum SA are elevated in several types of cancers. SA also exists in Erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone, which induces the production of red blood cells and hence used in the treatment of anemia.

Although of the great physiological significance of SA …

Effects Of Medicinal Plants On Lead Induced Toxicity Of Biotransformation And Redox Cycling Enzymes, Yusra Saif Khalfan Al Dhaheri

Theses

All organisms including humans are constantly and unavoidably exposed to foreign chemicals (xenobiotics), which include both manufactured and natural molecules such as pollutants and plant metabolites. One such alarming pollutant is lead as it is constantly produced from automobiles exhaust products and food containers. It has been documented that lead, as the major heavy metal pollutant in the air, has notable effects on nervous systems and efficiency of several enzymes.

There are some natural products such as medicinal plants that might have antagonistic effects against such pollutants. Several medicinal plants are used as traditional remedies for many ailments without knowing …

A Study Of Factors Influencing The Occurrence Of Algae Bloom (Hab) Along The Abu Dhabi Coast, Uae., Buthaina Salem Saeed Al Qubaisi

Theses

During last few years, the frequency of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) has increased worldwide. The occurrence of HAB in the Gulf region has only recently been recorded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Specifically, these occurrences have not been thoroughly investigated. This phenomena, was found to be associated with the increase in nutrient load, depletion of oxygen and a significant decrease in fish populations that is caused by a bloom of a certain phytoplankton species, results in economic and social problems. Therefore, the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) has decided to conduct a study on different aspects of this phenomenon of …