A syntactic soundness proof for free-variable tableaux with on-the-fly Skolemization

We prove the syntactic soundness of classical tableaux with free variables and on-the-fly Skolemization. Soundness proofs are usually built from semantic arguments, and this is to our knowledge, the first proof that appeals to syntactic means. We actually prove the soundness property with respect to cut-free sequent calculus. This requires great care because of the additional liberty in freshness checking allowed by the use of Skolem terms. In contrast to semantic soundness, we gain the possibility to state a cut elimination theorem for sequent calculus, under the proviso that completeness of the method holds. We believe that such techniques can be applied to tableaux in other logics as well

A Software Engineered Voice-Enabled Job Recruitment Portal System

The inability of job seekers to get timely job information regarding the status of the application submitted via conventional job portal system which is usually dependent on accessibility to the Internet has made so many job applicants to lose their placements. Worse still, the epileptic services offered by Internet Service Providers and the poor infrastructures in most developing countries have greatly hindered the expected benefits from Internet usage. These have led to cases of online vacancies notifications unattended to simply because a job seeker is neither aware nor has access to the Internet. With an increasing patronage of mobile phones, a self-service job vacancy notification with audio functionality or an automated job vacancy notification to all qualified job seekers through mobile phones will simply provide a solution to these challenges. In this paper, we present a Voice-enabled Job Recruitment Portal (JRP) System. The system is accessed through two interfaces – the voice user’s interface (VUI) and web interface. The VUI was developed using VoiceXML and the web interface using PHP, and both interfaces integrated with Apache and MySQL as the middleware and back-end component respectively. The JRP proposed in this paper takes the hassle of job hunting from job seekers, provides job status information in real-time to the job seeker and offers other benefits such as, cost, effectiveness, speed, accuracy, ease of documentation, convenience and better logistics to the employer in seeking the right candidate for a job

Assertion level proof planning with compiled strategies

This book presents new techniques that allow the automatic verification and generation of abstract human-style proofs. The core of this approach builds an efficient calculus that works directly by applying definitions, theorems, and axioms, which reduces the size of the underlying proof object by a factor of ten. The calculus is extended by the deep inference paradigm which allows the application of inference rules at arbitrary depth inside logical expressions and provides new proofs that are exponentially shorter and not available in the sequent calculus without cut. In addition, a strategy language for abstract underspecified declarative proof patterns is developed. Together, the complementary methods provide a framework to automate declarative proofs. The benefits of the techniques are illustrated by practical applications.Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich damit, das Formalisieren von Beweisen zu vereinfachen, indem Methoden entwickelt werden, um informale Beweise formal zu verifizieren und erzeugen zu können. Dazu wird ein abstrakter Kalkül entwickelt, der direkt auf der Faktenebene arbeitet, welche von Menschen geführten Beweisen relativ nahe kommt. Anhand einer Fallstudie wird gezeigt, dass die abstrakte Beweisführung auf der Fakteneben vorteilhaft für automatische Suchverfahren ist. Zusätzlich wird eine Strategiesprache entwickelt, die es erlaubt, unterspezifizierte Beweismuster innerhalb des Beweisdokumentes zu spezifizieren und Beweisskizzen automatisch zu verfeinern. Fallstudien zeigen, dass komplexe Beweismuster kompakt in der entwickelten Strategiesprache spezifiziert werden können. Zusammen bilden die einander ergänzenden Methoden den Rahmen zur Automatisierung von deklarativen Beweisen auf der Faktenebene, die bisher überwiegend manuell entwickelt werden mussten

Assertion level proof planning with compiled strategies

This book presents new techniques that allow the automatic verification and generation of abstract human-style proofs. The core of this approach builds an efficient calculus that works directly by applying definitions, theorems, and axioms, which reduces the size of the underlying proof object by a factor of ten. The calculus is extended by the deep inference paradigm which allows the application of inference rules at arbitrary depth inside logical expressions and provides new proofs that are exponentially shorter and not available in the sequent calculus without cut. In addition, a strategy language for abstract underspecified declarative proof patterns is developed. Together, the complementary methods provide a framework to automate declarative proofs. The benefits of the techniques are illustrated by practical applications.Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich damit, das Formalisieren von Beweisen zu vereinfachen, indem Methoden entwickelt werden, um informale Beweise formal zu verifizieren und erzeugen zu können. Dazu wird ein abstrakter Kalkül entwickelt, der direkt auf der Faktenebene arbeitet, welche von Menschen geführten Beweisen relativ nahe kommt. Anhand einer Fallstudie wird gezeigt, dass die abstrakte Beweisführung auf der Fakteneben vorteilhaft für automatische Suchverfahren ist. Zusätzlich wird eine Strategiesprache entwickelt, die es erlaubt, unterspezifizierte Beweismuster innerhalb des Beweisdokumentes zu spezifizieren und Beweisskizzen automatisch zu verfeinern. Fallstudien zeigen, dass komplexe Beweismuster kompakt in der entwickelten Strategiesprache spezifiziert werden können. Zusammen bilden die einander ergänzenden Methoden den Rahmen zur Automatisierung von deklarativen Beweisen auf der Faktenebene, die bisher überwiegend manuell entwickelt werden mussten

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ROMANIA

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey was defined with the aim to involve the highest possible number of relevant CSR topics and give the issue a more wholesome perspective. It provides a basis for further comprehension and deeper analyses of specific CSR areas. The conditions determining the success of CSR in Romania have been defined in the paper on the basis of the previously cumulative knowledge as well as the results of various researches. This paper provides knowledge which may be useful in the programs promoting CSR.Corporate social responsibility, Supportive policies, Romania

Factors Influencing Customer Satisfaction towards E-shopping in Malaysia

Online shopping or e-shopping has changed the world of business and quite a few people have decided to work with these features. What their primary concerns precisely and the responses from the globalisation are the competency of incorporation while doing their businesses. E-shopping has also increased substantially in Malaysia in recent years. The rapid increase in the e-commerce industry in Malaysia has created the demand to emphasize on how to increase customer satisfaction while operating in the e-retailing environment. It is very important that customers are satisfied with the website, or else, they would not return. Therefore, a crucial fact to look into is that companies must ensure that their customers are satisfied with their purchases that are really essential from the ecommerce’s point of view. With is in mind, this study aimed at investigating customer satisfaction towards e-shopping in Malaysia. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed among students randomly selected from various public and private universities located within Klang valley area. Total 369 questionnaires were returned, out of which 341 questionnaires were found usable for further analysis. Finally, SEM was employed to test the hypotheses. This study found that customer satisfaction towards e-shopping in Malaysia is to a great extent influenced by ease of use, trust, design of the website, online security and e-service quality. Finally, recommendations and future study direction is provided. Keywords: E-shopping, Customer satisfaction, Trust, Online security, E-service quality, Malaysia

Sisters to Scheherazade: Revisioned Histories of Gender and Nation in Postcolonial African and Asian Women's Literature

PhDTraversing geographical boundaries and cultural locations, and using a comparative, crosscultural framework, this thesis examines and critiques a selected range of women's writings from postcolonial Africa and Asia. It foregrounds the works of Assia Djebar, Mariama Ba, Ama Ata Aidoo, Nayantara Sahgal and Attia Hosain and outlines the processes through which women writers decentre imperialist, patriarchal underpinnings of the grand recit, defy conventions of autobiographical practice, make sense of a feminized past and revision a different collective personal history that has emancipatory potential for women and other oppressed groups. Referring to Eurocentric "male-stream" histories that have systematically thrust women to the margins, the study illustrates through a variety of literary texts and genres the complex ways in which past histories have obliterated women's presence and voiceconsciousness. While appraising diverse textual strategies of narratives, it discusses the "fictional" nature of historical work and the underlying ideologies framing supposedly "truthful" archival records; the ambivalent role of the historian; the gaps and fissures in historical memory; and the significance of history as a palimpsest. By excavating subsumed histories and "spectres" of the past, the study assesses the way specific texts reconstruct totalizing masculinist chronicles and counterpoise them with alternative feminine inscriptions that are multi-layered and polyphonic, and sometimes also fragmented, "silent" and inconclusive. Additionally, the thesis demonstrates how the process of overwriting the palimpsest has situated women in pivotal positions to articulate issues relevant to a dialogue between gender and nation/atism. The strategic role women have undertaken in decolonization processes worldwide, the ambivalent attitude of male nationalists to women's concerns after independence, and the multiple dilemmas confronting women in a globalized neoimperial world scenario are central to this discussion. Here, the thesis also probes the implications of veiling for Muslim women of contemporary times, sex-segregation based on an antiquated ideology of purdah, women's (limited) access to public space, and the question of agency and women's voice-consciousness. The study highlights current global conditions (such as modern migrations and economic transnationalism) and multiple categories of race, class, gender and ethnicity that intersect in complex ways to represent the Otherized identities of women